


Total Drama Second Generation: Island

by KeelerQueen



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: Adoption, Camping, Disability, Drama, Game Shows, Gender Identity, Half-Siblings, LGBTQ Themes, Multi, Nature, Parenthood, Post-Total Drama (Cartoon) Season/Series 07, Sexuality, Sibling Rivalry, Time Skips, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 52,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25341985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeelerQueen/pseuds/KeelerQueen
Summary: 20 new campers compete in an revamp of old school TDI. Same challenges, same 100,000 dollar prize. But there's one catch... each new contestant is the child of an original contestant. Rated T for mentions of sexuality/gender/language/dark themes. Note that the relationships mentioned in the tags are in reference to the kids themselves and the relationships are not explored in the story.  Still in progress.
Relationships: Alejandro Burromuerto/Heather, Bridgette/Geoff (Total Drama), Cody Anderson/Sierra, Courtney/Scott (Total Drama), Duncan/Gwen (Total Drama), Ezekiel/Dawn (Total Drama), Gwen/Trent (Total Drama), Izzy/Owen (Total Drama), Leshawna/Harold McGrady V, Lindsay/Tyler (Total Drama)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 16





	1. Character Biographies

**Contestant Biographies**

_ Addison _

**Name** : Addison

 **Likes** : Being the loudest person in a room

 **Dislikes** : Wearing his prosthetic

 **Known for** : His high-energy

 **Why TDI?** : To show off his skills

If there's one thing that this high-energy teen values it's himself. Addison's high-energy behavior has been a constant struggle for his parents, Harold and Leshawna, and he was always a pain to keep an eye on. But he's known from a young age that being the loudest person in a room gives him the largest presence that he needs to feel important, even if it creates a burden to those around him. However, Addison's obnoxious behavior may have been the cause of a bad accident which ended with him having to have an eye removed. Addison doesn't let it make him self-conscious, in fact, he embraces his differences and hates having to wear a prosthetic eye since it 'makes him blend in'. Even with his vision impairment, Addison has a lot of potential skills he wants to show off to his fellow contestants and hopefully will be able to stand out in the crowd.

_Aiden_

**Name** : Aiden

 **Likes** : Spending time with his twin brother

 **Dislikes** : Being compared to Landon

 **Known for** : Participating in several school clubs

 **Why TDI?** : To feel closer with the community

Aiden has a strong relationship with his twin brother Landon and their single-mother so Aiden was excited to find out he had a father he'd never met when he was eight. He would like to get to know Justin better, but not if his brother isn't going to be with him. Aiden spends a lot of time with his brother but knows that there is a culture clash between the two of them. Aiden thoroughly enjoys going to school. He loves getting involved in the many clubs his school offers and is always staying after school to help with something. He knows Landon is struggling and wants to help him. But even knowing he's has more book-smarts, Aiden feels like his brother is better than him. Aiden doesn't want there to be a competition between the two of them, but tries to make himself feel like his equal. He hopes meeting the rest of the contestants will help him feel closer with the TDI world and essentially have a better understanding of his father.

_Callum_

**Name** : Callum

 **Likes** : Scaring his friends

 **Dislikes** : Detention

 **Known for** : Winning the Halloween costume contest 6 years in a row

 **Why TDI?** : Gets him out of the house

Despite being the only child to kind and lovable DJ, Callum grew up being more than he bargained for. Making his father faint more than a few times at a young age made Callum realize how amusing it was to scare others. He took this hobby to school with his teacher and fellow classmates, but it may land him in detention now and again. He is often able to use this skill for good; making costumes, props, and decorations to use for his own use and to sell to his friends. Callum even managed to win the costume contest 6 years running at his school. As excited as Callum is to meet his fellow competitors, DJ is most excited to finally get him out of the house so he can find fun scarring someone else for once.

_Cameron_

**Name** : Cameron

 **Likes** : Listening to every type of music

 **Dislikes** : Feeding the goats

 **Known For** : Taking a year off from high school

 **Why TDI?** : To feel like he's one of the guys

Cameron is really excited to compete in Total Drama. He was never one to really watch the show but if his parents could do it why couldn't he? Anything beats feeding the goats and listening to another lecture from his mother, Dawn, about how he doesn't treat them nicely. Growing up in a heavily wooded area, Cameron struggled to really find himself. He found most peace listening to whatever music he could find; rap, country, pop, electronica, Cameron's listened to it all but it was never enough for him. School hasn't been a lot of help either, he even took a year off to just reflect on his life, which sounds nice for most teens but caused him to be in the same class as his younger sister Sara. Cameron is finally ready to get away from his classmates and interact with a new group of teens that will make him feel like he's just one of the guys.

_Junior_

**Name** : Cody Jr. (Junior)

 **Likes** : Spending time with his family and cat

 **Dislikes** : Moderating the Total drama fan blogs

 **Known For** : Volunteering at the local church

 **Why TDI?** : TV presence

While growing up rather poor in a college town isn't ideal for most kids, Junior appreciates the little things and would rather spend time with his parents than be able to get whatever he wants. Being the only child in his family, Junior grew up constantly being smothered, photographed and videotaped by his overly-affectionate mother, Sierra. However Junior worries that all his time at home is leading him down the same path as his mother. He's already been added as a moderator on a total drama blog but has yet to work up the courage to remove himself from the group. When he's not relaxing at home or checking up on the forums he's giving back to the community whether it be volunteering at the local church or serving food at a shelter. Junior knows that being on the show will give him a TV presence which he hopes will give him a better understanding of the fan culture. He just hopes he too doesn't become a target of affection.

_Ike_

**Name** : Ike

 **Likes** : Ice hockey, roller hockey and field hockey

 **Dislikes** : Being compared to his younger sister Ivonne

 **Known For?** : Partying with his teammates on the weekends

 **Why TDI?** : To prove himself worthy

While being the oldest and the only boy in his family, Ike was born with the destiny of being his father, Tyler's protégé. After many failed tryouts, Ike found his passion in hockey. Whether it be on the ice, in the roller rink or out on a field, Ike is always playing and practicing. Even with all his success in the sport there's one thing in his way… his little sister Ivonne. Ike tries to be supportive of his sister but while she keeps winning trophies in every sport she partakes in, Ike can't help but feel outshined. Ike takes out his negative energy by sneaking out and partying with his fellow hockey teammates, he'd even be away for an entire weekend if it meant he didn't have to watch Ivonne win another gymnastics tournament! Can Ike finally prove to his sister and his parents that he has just as much to offer?

_ Ivonne _

**Name** : Ivonne

 **Likes** : Collecting trophies

 **Dislikes** : Going up/down the stairs

 **Known for** : Teaching yoga at the local studio

 **Why TDI?** : To go for the gold

Ivonne may have inherited her good looks from her mother Lindsay, but she never found being pampered and pretty interesting. She'd much rather get rough in the mud with her older brother Ike. It was Ike who inspired Ivonne to try out for gymnastics and after winning that first golden trophy, she just couldn't quit. Softball, cheerleading, tennis and soccer, Ivonne found herself loving the game and loving the trophies she got to take home afterwards. Even with an unbreakable winning streak, she couldn't escape the clumsiness embedded within her. Ivonne tries to avoid going up and down the stairs because she knows it will inevitably lead to disaster. After spraining her wrist, she took a break from sports to teach yoga at a studio nearby. Now she's all rested up and ready to win the biggest trophy of them all... 100 thousand dollars!

_ Jacey_

**Name** : Jacey

 **Likes** : To have fun

 **Dislikes** : Being told what to do

 **Known for** : Her accent

 **Why TDI?** : To let loose and relax

Jacey's known for the better part of her life that she has a destiny to fulfill but the issue with Jacey is… she chooses to ignore it. The pressure that she gets from her mother Eva to follow her footsteps would cause most people to collapse but Jacey chooses to play naive and do what she wants. Athletic games never really interested her, she'd much rather joke around and pull pranks on her friends. Although she did settle on a sport and joined the cheer squad, she still gets told to find a better sport to play. Being a 'stupid girl' has its perks though. She makes friends easily and she has a contagious positivity to her. Jacey thinks that people are attracted to her because she has an accent and doesn't speak the best English but she's happy to befriend anyone she crosses paths with. Jacey wants to let loose and relax with her fellow TDI cast and hopefully they'll enjoy having fun just as much as she does.

_ Juliette_

**Name** : Juliette

 **Likes** : Discovering new places in Canada

 **Dislikes** : Talking about her past

 **Known For** : Being the 'new girl'

 **Why TDI?** : To understand her new life better

If anyone is fresh to the Total Drama 'family' it's Juliette. Being born is Brazil to unknown parents, she has been hopping around the country for most of her life. But at 14, Juliette was finally able to find her forever home in Canada with Noah. While getting used to the weather change and language difference has been a struggle, she finds it exciting to explore her new home and better understand the culture. Juliette has been taking advantage of every moment and is able to find a positive in everything. Although she may get annoyed when her little brother keeps asking her about her home country, she knows it's all in the past and she has a future to focus on. Her next big challenge will be fighting for the 100 thousand dollars. She didn't even know this show existed! Will Juliette be able to keep up with the other Canadian-blooded TDI kids?

_ Landon _

**Name** : Landon

 **Likes** : Going to the arcade

 **Dislikes** : Being bothered

 **Known for** : Paying his classmates to do his homework

 **Why TDI?** : Obligation

Landon feels like his life became much more bothersome when he first met his father, Justin, when he was eight. Unlike his twin brother Aiden, Landon does not care if Justin is in his life or not. Landon just wants to play laser tag and rack up on tickets at the nearest arcade. As close as Landon is with Aiden, he finds himself feeling more and more bothered by people at their school. Landon doesn't bother with school and has too often payed his friends for their notes or to do the entire assignment for him. As attractive and athletic as Landon thinks he is, he wishes he could have a more positive attitude like his brother Aiden. Landon would rather not participate with the rest of the TDI kids but if his brother is planning on competing, he feels like he has to. He can't let Aiden keep getting ahead of him after all.

_ Liam _

**Name** : Liam

 **Likes** : Walking through Detroit on the weekends

 **Dislikes** : His step-dad

 **Known for** : Having tattoos all down his arms

 **Why TDI?** : To take a break from city-life.

City-boy Liam knows he and his farm-girl mother Beth clash when it comes to personality and interest which made it easy for him to choose to live in the states with his father instead. Liam feels like he is in his environment in the city of Detroit and spends lots of time walking down the streets to visit the local businesses, more specifically the tattoo parlor down the block. He can spend as much time as he wants on the streets but every-so-often he has to cross the country border and visit his mother but more dreadfully, his step-dad. Liam disconnects from his Canadian family so much that they don't even know about his tattoos all over his arms. While this never-ending cycle has been weighing Liam down, he hopes camping out with the total drama crew will be a nice break from his high-energy lifestyle.

_ Malik _

**Name** : Malik

 **Likes** : Watching bad movies with his friend Mavis

 **Dislikes** : Working at the hair salon

 **Known for** : Getting suspended three times

 **Why TDI?** : To try to woo Mavis

Malik grew up believing he had one destiny…. To marry his childhood friend Mavis. While he enjoys watching bad movies and playing card games with her, it just isn't enough for Malik. His friends think that he has unreasonable expectations with Mavis and even his mother, Katie, worries that he'll scare her away, but Malik can't help who he's fallen in love with. He decided to get a job sweeping floors at a hair salon to help get him clear his mind but he finds the daily task miserable. Malik would rather find meaningless tasks at school to make his friends laugh like connecting a bunch of dry-erase markers, or making a hole in the floor and dropping coins into the classroom beneath. These antics may cause him to get suspended, but it beats doing any kind of work to Malik. He hopes that the rest of the TDI cast see his connection with his childhood friend and help him get the girl.

_ Mavis _

**Name** : Mavis

 **Likes** : Sleeping

 **Dislikes** : Being hit on by Malik

 **Known for** : Missing at least one day a week from school

 **Why TDI?** : To spend all the money at the mall with her girlfriends

Calling Mavis a heavy sleeper would be an understatement. Mavis spends a lot of her time sleeping in and not wasting any time to present herself. She often misses school from sleeping in for so long. While her mother, Sadie, wishes she'd find anything to do in her spare time, she's glad that she has one friend under her belt… Malik. Mavis feels like Malik was dumped onto her only because their parents are friends. She's tired from the constant flirting from Malik and wishes he'd find someone else to bother. When she's not sleeping, Mavis is usually sneaking out of class to hang out with her girlfriends at the mall. She hopes she wins the money so she can indulge on her bad behavior and rest easy knowing she accomplished at least one thing.

_ Mordecai _

**Name** : Mordecai

 **Likes** : Spending the day at the farmer's market

 **Dislikes** : Babysitting his little brothers

 **Known for** : Cheating to get his way

 **Why TDI?** : So he can say he did

Mordecai was always meant to be a very accomplished person. While his mother, Courtney, would have wanted better for him, Mordecai takes more of his inspiration from his father, Scott. While Mordecai enjoys being a farm boy for the most part, what he really likes is being able to sell vegetables at the local market- he claims he's running a business from it. Even as a self-proclaimed businessman, Mordecai has 5 little brothers he gets stuck looking after, much to his annoyance. Whether he's at home or in school, Mordecai doesn't mind playing dirty. Mordecai will often place blame on his little brothers and he's been guilty of stuffing the ballot box to win class president. Mordecai really wants to win Total Drama, mainly so he can stick it to his parents.

_ Nora _

**Name** : Nora

 **Likes** : People-watching in the park

 **Dislikes** : Not being able to speak her mind

 **Known for** : Being the quiet kid

 **Why TDI?** : To find more confidence in herself

Nora knows it's difficult to be the 'quiet girl' especially with very outgoing parents like Geoff and Bridgette. Nora prefers to stay out of the spotlight and live a peaceful quaint life. She often heads to the park to watch others having fun. A lot of people tell her that it is a weird hobby but she thinks people can be pretty interesting. Nora finds most of her issues with friends from school. She finds more extroverted people want to befriend her and will often times try to 'help' her. Nora doesn't need help, but she struggles to speak her mind and gets stuck being the 'adopted introvert' in her friend group. Nora knows she's tough, and has a lot to offer to her Total Drama team. She hopes the competition is able to bring her out of her shell and gain more confidence.

_ Petunia _

**Name** : Petunia

 **Likes** : Sketching and painting

 **Dislikes** : Bullies

 **Known for** : Painting sets for the community theater

 **Why TDI?** : To put the money to good use

Petunia may seem like a quiet kid at first, but when she lifts her head out of her notebook, she has a full personality and a blunt attitude. While she tries to separate herself from being like her parents, Izzy and Owen, she shares their positive outlook on life. Petunia spends most of the time drawing in her sketchpad and particularly likes to draws interesting situations she witnesses at school. When she's not drawing in her sketchbook, she is at the community theatre helping paint the sets. It doesn't seem like Petunia has a bad bone in her body until she sees someone getting teased or bullied. She doesn't mind fighting back for others, even if it means she ends up in after-school detention. Petunia wants to win the money because she knows it could be put to good use somewhere in the world.

_Rosie_

**Name** : Rosie

 **Likes** : Causing trouble at the skatepark

 **Dislikes** : Being forced to dress and act girly

 **Known for** : Signing up and dropping out of every extra-curricular

 **Why TDI?** : To get acceptance from her parents

Rosie has been waiting for this moment her entire life. With her parents Heather and Alejandro both making it to the finale, Rosie knows this competition will be a walk in the park for her. While she may seem like a popular girl, Rosie spends most afternoons at the skatepark with her girlfriends graffitiing cars and making chips in the sidewalk, much to the dismay of her parents. In fact, Rosie thinks it'll be impossible to ever get along with her folks, as long as they want to keep dressing and pampering her. A lot of this disobedience comes from being forced into almost every extracurricular at school. Quiz bowl, choir, ballet, Rosie never lasts a day in these clubs and just heads back to the skatepark. Winning total drama might be Rosie's last chance to find a medium between her and her parents and hopes that winning will be enough to gain their acceptance.

_Sara_

**Name** : Sara

 **Likes** : Reading tea leaves and tarot cards

 **Dislikes** : Wasting her own time

 **Known for** : Jumping off the top of the bleachers onto the concrete

 **Why TDI?** : To explore new wooded areas

There is no limit to what Sara is willing to do. Sure, she often gives her older brother Cameron a constant scare, and she may have ended up in the emergency room more times than she's willing to admit, but Sara has never given up. The only thing Sara doesn't like to do is help out her father, Ezekiel, outside since she knows her time is valuable. She believes she has found her true connection with the world; she even checks her tea leaves every morning and reads tarot cards at night. But no reading could ever predict that she'd jump from the top of the bleachers at a football game… ouch! Sara knows that her behavior can lead to danger but what's life without a little bit of danger? Sara loves exploring and hopes she will get a chance to see the crazy creatures that inhabit the woods at on set. Hopefully she'll maintain her hard head and stay out of trouble with her teammates.

_ Sophie_

**Name** : Sophie

 **Likes** : Video chatting with her friends

 **Dislikes** : Getting in the middle of arguments

 **Known for** : Being in every play and musical

 **Why TDI?** : To get closer with her half-sister Zarra

Sophie knows that she is the complete opposite of her mother, Gwen. Sophie loves being peppy, pampered and popular. If she's not at school or out with her friends she's usually in her room talking to them in a video chat room. Trying to be friends with everyone has some downsides. Sophie hates dealing with arguments and disagreements. She decides to just never take a side in those situations which usually end with her losing a friend or two. Sophie does take some inspiration from her father, Trent. She enjoys playing the guitar and singing, but her real passion is acting. Sophie tries out for every play and musical at her school and spends a lot of time practicing. Everything seems pretty peachy for Sophie until her half-sister Zarra comes around. Sophie never really got to know her sister, and hopes that they are able to reconcile while stuck on the island together.

_ Zarra _

**Name** : Zarra

 **Likes** : Reading comic books

 **Dislikes** : Feeling jealous

 **Known for** : Locking herself in her room

 **Why TDI?** : To have more opportunities to make friends

Despite being Duncan's daughter, Zarra found herself finding much more comfort in her step-dad, Trent… that is until she had to compete for his affection with her half-sister Sophie. She was bothered so much by feeling jealous of her younger sister, she moved back in with her father for the majority of the time. It did come with some positives though; she became close with her step-brother and they both found love in reading comic books and watching classic movies together. She became comfortable in her everyday life but when she had to stay with her mother, she would often lock her bedroom door. Zarra knows that being on TDI could help her find friends other than her step-brother but could it also salvage the relationship between her and her little sister?


	2. Not So Happy Campers I

Out along the waters a subtle and quiet dock glistens above the shores. A man in his mid-twenties with shagged black hair, tanned skin, and an unamused expression appears from beside the dock.

"20 or so years ago, 22 campers fought it out on this very island for 100 thousand dollars. Today 20 of their kids will be fighting for the same pile of dough, on the same old island. I am Bobby and we're taking you week by week on a nostalgic reboot of Total Drama Island.

{THEME MUSIC ENSUES}

"Looks like our first camper is arriving."

A young brother and sister step onto the dock. The boy with hair falling into his face being held up by nothing but a bandana. He had a bag of hockey sticks strapped to his back and had cuts and bruises surrounding his face. His sister was younger and had curly brunette hair that touched her lower back. She was wearing a turtleneck shirt and had long legs covered by high waisted jeans.

"Ike, Ivonne. Good to have you at camp"

Ivonne scratched her head "This isn't going to be as bad as it was the first time, right?" As she was speaking her foot met an uneven board of the dock causing her to collapse. Her brother rushed to her rescue. Grabbing her shoulders before her face made impact with the floor of the dock.

"If you're not careful it's going to be a lot worse" Ike noted as he led her away from Bobby.

Another boat drops off a young woman with high rise jeans and a flower covered top. She had salmon round glasses held up by her arced nosed. She was tall and tan and had long silky black hair that went down past her waist.

"Juliette, glad to see you."

She winked flirtatiously at the host and pushed hair behind her, "I'm glad to be here."

Next camper to arrive is a shorter man with his hair spiked up in the front and shaved around the sides. He has very ripped jeans and a loose V-neck quarter sleeve that had a fading pattern in the front.

"Campers this is Malik!"

Malik looked dazed and amused "It's great to be here! Has Mavis showed up yet?"

Bobby shook his head as a wordless response. Malik lowered his head and sat on the dock amongst the current campers. Ivonne squatted next to him.

"Who's Mavis?" Ivonne whispered.

"You'll see," Malik responded with pip, "I hope this game will get her to fall in love with me."

Ivonne awed at the statement and stood back up.

"Everyone I'd like you to mee- "Bobby looked behind him and lost sight of the next camper. Suddenly a young teen popped up from the waters and latched onto Bobby's ankles. He gasped for a second and looked down at his feet. "I'd like you to meet Callum"

Callum was taller and skinny. He had buzzed sides with the rest of his hair covered by a ball cap with a square face with dark features. He had fake blood and vampire teeth to try to scare the host. Bobby pulled him out of the water and onto his feet. He rubbed his hands on his face vigorously to clean up the blood.

"Did I scare you?" Callum asked in a muffled tone.

"Dude, if you grew up with my family nothing would scare you, you can go stand with the others now." Callum obliged fussily and stood on the opposite end of the dock. Juliette noticed his teeth and snickered quietly.

"You can't possibly wear those all summer." She remarked.

Without hesitation Callum shot the teeth out of his mouth and into the waters below. "Nah, I have more in my suitcase."

The next boat drops off a girl with bronze tones and freckles on her nose. She had her hair in low pigtails that draped over her baggy flannel shirt.

"Everyone this is Rosalie"

She winced at the sound of her name "you can just call me Rosie if that's alright."

"Why does there have to be so many of you" Bobby complained as a boat dropped off the next camper. He was a freckle faced man with thick red hair and a slim build. He had a camouflage vest overtop a white tee and pants that had layers of dirt on them.

"Mordecai, welcome to camp."

"This place is just as gross as I remember." Mordecai shoved his way past Bobby to the others.

Ike was quick to acknowledge Mordecai and welcomed him with a greeting.

"Welcome to camp!" Exclaimed Ike awkwardly. Mordecai just smiled and shook his hand.

Next camper was thin and very pale. She had her platinum blond hair in a pixie cut and she was wearing a long heavy top with leggings.

"Uh… Nora, right?" Bobby asked looking at his clipboard.

Nora looked around awkwardly before saying "yeah" in a soft afraid voice.

"Sorry you just looked different from the photos I was given." Bobby pointed out revealing a picture of her with much longer hair.

Next two campers were a second brother sister combination. The sister was pale and had a small frame. She had dark green hair that looked to be half shaven due to a small blonde patch growing in on the other side. She had on a long tee with a belt around her waist and black jeggings underneath. Her brother, not much taller than she, had short brown hair and a feminine face. He had a Cosby like sweater and a black pouch clipped to his pants.

"Cameron, Sara, nice to see you." Sara excitedly grabs Bobby into a hug only being pulled off by her older brother.

"Hey wasn't there already a Cameron on Total Drama?" Mordecai snarks at his fellow camper.

"Wouldn't know I didn't watch the show." Cameron responses smugly.

"How?!" Remarked Rosie from the back of the crowd, "you'd think you'd at least see the first season."

"I'm not a big tv guy," explained Cameron, "also we didn't have cable."

"Hey campers," shouted Bobby interrupting the conversation, "we're only half way through. There's still 10 more campers we have to wait for."

A young girl arrives on the dock with dark thick hair in a bob covered by a ball cap. She had a tracksuit top and jean shorts underneath.

"Hey Jacey, how's it going?"

She giggled to herself and said "I'm can't even believe I'm here!" She walked over to Bobby and toyed with his hair. "Can we call you tiny Chris instead? It suits you better."

Agitated, Bobby pushes her away declining her suggestion.

"Don't piss off the guy," Cameron laughed, "having to host this season is annoying him already!"

Bobby rolled his eyes as another boat drives by and silently drops off a teen who looks either way too tall or way too skinny. He has a long sleeve shirt with 'Detroit' written along the front and jeans that barely stay put. His mouth is unseen by a black mask wrapped around both ears.

"Liam, welcome." Bobby's voice sinks as he looks up at this skyscraper of a teen. Liam nods and joins the others. Rosie eyes him heavily.

"Let me guess, you don't want to talk?" Rosie claimed observantly. Liam pulls the mask away from his face slightly. "Does that bother you?" Liam responded in a quiet but assertive voice. Rosie retracted herself from the conversation.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Mavis, Mavis welcome to camp!"

Mavis was a shorter pale girl with messy black hair that went past her shoulders. She had a tank top tucked into joggers that looked pilled from being washed. She looked around camp and grimaced as her noticed her childhood friend.

"Malik?" She said questioning.

"Mavis hi!" Shouted Malik from the other end of the dock patting the wooden boards next to him, "Sit by me!" She joins him on the other side of the dock.

"Next up, is Junior." Bobby watches as the boat drops off a teen with a height similar to Liam's but is healthier built. He has a round tan face and has his chocolate-colored hair, though short on the sides, sits on the back of his head in a small bun. He had on a layered shirt and pair of brown joggers.

"I gotta say it's wild being here." Junior commented as he approached Bobby.

As he joins the others Ivonne stares at him intensely.

"Wow you're so tall and handsome!" Ivonne commented in awe, "hopefully a boat drops off ten more of you."

Junior scratched the back of his head "Uh… thanks?" He turns away from her in avoidance.

Another boat swings by leaving behind a stout girl with soft orange hair that barely touches her shoulders. She had a halter top covered in flowers and high-rise jeans with rips in the knees.

"Everyone this is Petunia!"

Petunia ran over to Bobby with the goal of hugging him. Bobby dodge her attack and gestured at her to join the others. She immediately notices Liam's mask and comments on it.

"That's a kink thing isn't it." She laughs nervously at Liam's glare in response.

"Bobby please tell me that this is everyone so we can proceed with this torture." Mordecai bagged as Junior joined the crowd. Junior looks back at the host confused.

"I thought your name was Aubrey?" Junior remarked which caused Cameron to burst out laughing. Bobby's face reddened as the crowd of campers commented amongst themselves.

Bobby jabbered back, "Oh and I'm sure your name is actually just Junior right?"

Junior silenced himself and lowered into the crowd.

"Another contestant!" Shouted Jacey as a teen stepped foot on the dock.

She was tall and had a pampered face. She had an open shirt knotted at her waist with dark jeans. Large wire frame glasses covered her face and her hair sat on top of her head in a messy bun. Her lip nose and ears were decorated with various piercings that were as good as the choker on her neck.

"Everyone this is Zarra. Try not to stand too close."

"Buzz off McLean."

As she joined the others Mordecai rolled his eyes at the sight of her.

"Stay out of my way if you want to get far." He hissed.

Zarra laughed to herself, "I'm supposed to be intimidated by some ginger?"

"Quiet campers," yelled Bobby from the opposite side of the dock, "Our next camper is Addison!"

Addison had dark skin and a freckles face. His face was shaped by his chin-strap stubble. He had plaid jeans underneath a baseball sweater. Most prominently, he was wearing a black eye patch over his right eye.

"Ooh…Is being a pirate your gimmick?" Sara asking in a playful manner.

"I can be if you want it to be." Addison responded playing along.

Another boat drops off two more teens. The final pair are a set of twin boys apparently identical. One appears to be more put-together with an athletic build and a clean face. His brother seems more laid back with wire-framed glasses and wavy overgrown hair.

"Landon, Aiden, welcome to camp."

Aiden lifted his head "it's great to be- "

"Yeah this is awesome." Landon interrupted as he grabbed his twin's shoulders and moved him into the crowd.

Landon spotted Juliette and gave her a smile and a wink. She smiled back flirtatiously as Aiden looked away.

"Here comes our final camper!" Bobby said as enthusiastically as he could get.

The final boat drops off a young girl with wavy black hair and a small frame. She had a long band quarter sleeve over her skinny jeans and a braided cord on her wrist. At the sight of her, Zarra barried herself into the crowd.

"Everyone this is Sophie, aka constant number 20."

She cheerfully smiled back "Thanks Bobby! This will be great!" She spots Zarra and rushes at her joyfully.

"Why didn't you tell me you'd be here?" Sophie asked her fellow camper.

"I don't have to tell you everything I do." Zarra responded awkwardly.

"Okay campers follow me over to the campfire." Bobby instructed the cast.

"What no photo?" Jacey chimed in amusingly.

"Nah take your own photos." Bobby continued walking towards the campfire and the campers gathered around him on arrival.

"Now most of you already know how this game works," explained Bobby, "your parents fought for the 100G years ago and the 20 of you will be doing the same. Each challenge will be similar to the original challenge that your parents had to perform. There is, just like last time, an outhouse confessional for you to share your feelings."

> CONFESSIONAL
> 
> **Bobby** : Now they're letting me host for the hell of it but Chris is still kind of pulling the strings. I honestly don't need the host life but I also like the paychecks.
> 
> **Addison** : I honestly wasn't sure they'd let me participate when I was contacted about the reboot. Good thing I'm an only child and they wanted everyone from the original cast represented.
> 
> **Cameron** : I'm not stoked about this competition. I honestly have no clue what's to come from this since I never watched the show. Also, my sister… it sounds nice competing with a sibling but she can be a bit of a loudmouth.
> 
> **Rosie** : I had to watch hours of Total Drama just to prepare for this. I feel like if I was against the original cast, I'd be a finalist for sure but I have no clue what these kids are like.
> 
> **Zarra** : I'm positive I'm the oldest contestant here. Is that an advantage... no. But it makes me think the season is going to infuriating. Imagine being a 12th grader and trapped in a class with 9th graders for eight weeks. Yeah that's the vibe I'm feeling now.
> 
> END

"Now, this is the part where I'd put you into teams," Bobby continued, "but I'm going to let you guys find your own teams. Teams will be based on the original Killer Bass and Screaming Gophers. Each of you will be given a white board and a score card. On the white board write down a clue about yourself or your parents so your fellow campers can guess who that parent is. Each of you should be trying to find your fellow bass and gophers this way. First team correctly built gets to go second on the cliff diving challenge and they get minus one chicken redacted from their score. Consider this a mini challenge slash ice breaker. Go!"

"What about siblings?" inquired Ike while the others scribbled on their dry-erase boards.

"So, each team will be 10 members each. Also, they will have 5 to 5 guy girl ratios. That's all I can tell you." Bobby clarified.

> CONFESSIONAL
> 
> **Mavis** : Malik and I are going to be on the same team. Ugh I'm just so tired of him trying to ask me out. He keeps saying that we were meant to be or something but even if he was the last man on earth, I wouldn't date him! How many times do you have to tell someone you're a lesbian before they listen?
> 
> **Liam, mask-less** : I'm not on the best terms with my mother so I'm not excited to get compared to her all summer. Neither my dad nor my stepdad was on the show so I don't really have anything to back me up.
> 
> **Zarra** : Uhh… so Sophie. She's my half-sister so there's that. I never had a close relationship with her so it's weird being stuck with her for this long. At least I'm sure we'll be on separate teams.
> 
> **Junior** : I'm not sure what a good clue would be. My name is too much of a clue but I can't really think of anything better.
> 
> **Nora** : I'm the only blond kid here… except Sara… but her brother is Burnette.
> 
> END

The cast scrambled to find their teammates. Addison ran up to a lazy Mavis whose sign just read "1 season"

"Hey Mavis, want to take a crack at my sign?" Addison gestured to his white board.

"You're missed?" puzzled Mavis, looking at the poor penmanship.

"No," Addison laughed, "I'm mixed. Good clue, right?"

"No," Mavis yawned, "let me know if you find any Bass okay?"

Addison rolled his eyes and ran over to someone else.

Rosie carefully looked at Liam's sign.

"How the hell was your parent a finalist?" Rosie scoffed "That's not even a big deal, my parent was a finalist too but I'm more sophisticated than writing it on my sign."

Liam responded sarcastically, "You speaking a second language could mean anything. I speak a second language but that wouldn't reveal anything."

"Whatever, just go find your stupid bass team!" Rosie started to storm off.

"Too bad I'm not a bass," Liam whispered loudly, "And too bad your parents never really won anything." Rosie huffed off annoyed with Liam.

Ike looked at Mordecai's sign.

"Your dad was in season 4? That's neat." Ike read aloud. He tapped his finger on his mouth, recalling the cast from that particular season.

"I know it's a bad clue but I couldn't think of a better one. What does your sign say?" Mordecai chimed in.

Ike, not realizing that he was holding the sign towards him, laughed nervously, "Oh, it says my parents competed on separate teams… twice."

"That means that you're going to have to wait until the teams are mostly formed before we can get you onto a team officially. Just wait here until we can do the math."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Ike** : Mordecai is so dedicated to the challenge. I was hoping he'd at least want to talk for a little while.
> 
> END

Junior ran into Cameron and Sara to exchange signs.

"Tag teaming on this challenge?" Junior joked playfully.

"Well we're siblings and we'll probably be on the same team." Cameron mentioned "We'd thought that staying together would be more efficient."

Cameron looked at Junior's sign that revealed he had a parent in All-Stars. This didn't mean much to the sibling duo but Cameron looked at his scorecard to make a guess.

"Which of these names do you look like?" Cameron laughed as he read over a list of OG camper names.

"I think he looks like a Dwayne." Sara suggested which caused Cameron to roll his eyes.

"Sara what does your white board say?" asked Junior genuinely. She giggled and revealed her scribblings as nothing but a silly picture.

"Mine says I had a parent in a different season." Cameron added.

"Same here." Junior confirmed.

Without any idea Cameron and Sara went to find someone else.

Zarra found Nora standing alone looking down at her sign.

"Can I see?" Zarra inserted herself next to Nora to see that her sign just 'I'm blonde', "Kind of an obvious statement, isn't it?"

Nora smiled, "thought it was kind of obvious."

Zarra looked at the scorecard and revealed her board to Nora. It revealed that Sophie was her half-sister and that her parents were on separate teams.

"I think we're on the same team." Zarra confirmed Nora nodded and followed her.

Landon and Aiden cross paths with Juliette to exchange clues.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Juliette** : I'm uh... adopted. Better put, I was adopted about a year ago. So not only do I not know that much about the show but no one would guess me by looks.
> 
> END

They looked at her clue that revealed her parent had competed three times.

"Well that narrows it down." Landon said sarcastically.

Juliette giggled, "Well, I'm don't really know that much about the game."

"Us neither," Aiden added, "we're not really close with our dad so this is kind of fresh for us too." Landon nudged Aiden with his elbow to silence him while Juliette looked at their whiteboard. It said "Made it to team merge once." She looked at her scoresheet and walked away.

Ivonne, while looking for her brother stumbled into Malik.

"Oh hello," Ivonne hesitated, "I guess I'm supposed to read your white board."

"Oh, I didn't write on it yet." Malik looked around, "I wrote a love note for Mavis on it originally but she told me to erase it."

Ivonne felt bad for Malik but was discomforted by the conversation. "Are you a bass or a gopher?"

"Bass"

Ivonne patted his shoulder, "I'm sure you'll get her."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Ivonne:** I don't think I was cheating by asking that. Was I?
> 
> END

As Petunia was running through the crowd Callum jumped behind her in an aggressive manner. She fell to the grass and immediately started laughing.

"You'll break something one of these days." She chuckled while standing up, "Anyway, let's see what you wrote down on the white board."

"What white board?" Callum asked confused.

"Let's hope you're not on my team." Petunia smiled and ran off.

Jacey and Sophie sat down the entire time and read white boards from a distance.

"I think I got most of my team figured out." Jacey said smugly.

Sophie responded in a similar manner "Oh well I've already made up the entire gopher team."

"Wait seriously," Jacey laughed, "just from sitting here?" Sophie ran over to Bobby to show him the score sheet.

"Looks like someone thinks they got a bingo!" Bobby shouted through a microphone, "Let's see who Sophie thinks is on her team: Addison, Rosie, Petunia, Liam, Ivonne, Junior, Juliette, Landon and Aiden. And Sophie wins the mini challenge for the gopher team!" Sophie claps in excitement as her new team stands together. "This means the rest of you are Bass: Cameron, Jacey, Ike, Mavis, Mordecai, Sara, Callum, Nora, Malik and Zarra.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Addison** : I really wanted to be a bass. It'd suit my character better.
> 
> **Sophie** : I can't believe I won the first challenge! I'm so excited to kick some butt all the way to the finale!
> 
> **Ike** : I'm worried about Ivonne and I being on separate teams. Girl is strong but she is a big klutz.
> 
> END

"I'm not going to be on a team with pirate, man-bun and Liam. No way." Rosie complained.

"I mean the exits that way if you want to leave," Bobby gestured to the dock. Rosie sank back into her team.

"You all know the game," Bobby explained, "In one hour meet me at the top of the cliff for an official who's who and the start of the challenge. Now since I'm technically in charge and there wasn't any rule about team names… I decided to change them a little bit."

"They can't be worse than the team names from season three." Junior mocked in a whisper to Addison.

"Bass, I hereby name thee the Screaming Bass. Gophers you're the Killer Gophers." Bobby announced.

"You're kidding." Junior laughed.

"I'm dead serious. And we'll be right back on Total Drama Island."


	3. Not So Happy Campers II

As the campers stand atop the cliff waiting for their host to arrive, Sophie stands up in front of Addison.

"Are you really going to wear an eye patch while you dive." She asked him giggling.

"No but I'm nervous taking it off." Addison rubbed the side of his arm awkwardly.

"Here I'll help… I'm sure it's okay." Sophie untied the eye patch neatly and removed it from her teammates face. Addison covered his face before Sophie could see. As she pried his hands away from his face, she screamed at the sight which cause the rest of the cast to gather.

"Dude that's nasty." Ike commented as everyone stared at Addison's right eye or lack thereof.

"I lost an eye," Addison admitted to the crowd, "It's not a big deal."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Addison** : I was planning on wearing a prosthetic but I forgot to pack one. I thought the eye patch would be more fun anyway. I just hope that my team doesn't think I'm useless cause I don't have any depth perception. At least I don't need glasses or in my case a monocle.
> 
> END

In the crowd Mordecai stands next to Cameron, who was still wearing a large shirt with his swim trunks.

"What are you self-conscious?" Mordecai asked eyeing him.

"Uhh… sure?" Cameron laughed awkwardly, "No one wants to see this whole mess I'm hiding."

Liam arrives late to the top of the cliff and surprises everyone as well. Rosie pushes through her teammates to run towards him.

Much to her surprise, Liam's arms were covered in tattoos that were once covered by his sweater.

"You're just going to stare?" Liam asked a stunned Rosie.

"Wha-what are you in some... sort of gang?" Rosie stuttered.

"If the Killer… ugh... Gophers are considered a gang than I guess so." Liam responded sarcastically. Landon from a distance watched the conversation unfold.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Landon** : I can tell that Rosie likes Liam. His 'dark and mysterious' persona isn't going to last long. I don't know if Liam thinks he hot shit or what but I'm not letting him have any more spotlight.
> 
> **Rosie** : I do not like Liam. He thinks he just gets away with whatever he wants and people will bend to his will. I don't care how uh odd his past might've been.
> 
> **Liam** : I grew up in Downtown Detroit with my dad… getting tattoos was a reoccurring weekend activity so I don't see any harm.
> 
> END

"Welcome back campers," Bobby greeted listlessly as he makes his way to the top of the cliff, "Glad to see you already in swim-gear. Now I promised that before the challenge that I'd give a little who's who."

"I'm so excited to see who everyone is," Sophie whispered to Ivonne under Bobby talking, "I loved the original show so actually knowing everyone's parents officially will be cool!"

Bobby continued explaining, "Just so nobody forgets, each of you will have to wear a button with your parent's face on it. When I call your name, you can claim your button. Gophers I'll start with you and will just go in alphabetical order. First contestant, sweet little Beth. Her button goes to… Liam."

Bobby sets the button in Liam's hand, who lets out a heavy exhale upon receiving it.

"Next up is Cody's button, and funnily enough this button goes to Cody...the second."

"Thanks Aubrey." Junior said sarcastically as Bobby handed him the button. Bobby rolls his eyes at him.

"You gophers don't seem enthused about your buttons but let's continue, shall we? Next Gopher is Gwen. Interestingly, I have two buttons for Gwen, one for a gopher and one for a bass. Sophie, Zarra, these are for you."

Zarra looked away from her sister as Bobby handed her the button. Sophie quickly noticed and looked down at the ground slowly.

"Next button, the bossy queen of mean Heather. The button goes to Rosie."

She accepted the button and looked over at Liam who wasn't paying attention.

"Next is Petunia who gets the next two buttons. Izzy and Owen."

"Hey I think you missed skipped some letters genius." bickered Landon as Aiden attempted to silence him.

"I was getting to you Landon," informed Bobby, "I'm just trying to get through these. Speaking of which the next two buttons are for the twins Landon and Aiden, of the beautiful Justin."

"Just hurry this process so I can jump off the cliff." Landon rolled his eyes as he accepted both buttons. He then turned to his brother, "I'll hold on to it for now so you don't lose it okay?"

"Next is the luscious Lashawna and her button goes to Addison."

Addison took the button over to Sophie and placed it over his right eye.

"Stop!" Sophie shouted in disgust has she shoved him in a joking manner.

"Four more gopher buttons but two of you left," Bobby revealed a button with Noah, Trent and two Lindsays, "Ivonne, you and your brother both get a Lindsay button."

Ivonne smiled over at her older brother who looked at her with worry.

"Noah's button goes to… Juliette and lastly Trent's button goes to Sophie."

Bobby passed them their buttons and the Gophers looked at each other awkwardly.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : This is good cause now they fear me. I'm not even going to bother commenting on the others because they'll just get the boot one by one anyway.
> 
> **Liam** : ...guess what I'm throwing in the shark infested waters today?
> 
> **Ivonne** : I wish I could be on a team with Ike. It feels so weird competing against my brother also I know I'll probably lose the button by the end of the day.
> 
> **Junior** : I used to work at Burger King and they made me wear a name tag so this is kinda the same thing.
> 
> END

"Bass, are you ready?" Bobby asked while he dug through a bag for their set of buttons, "Firstly is Bridgette and Geoff their buttons go to… Nora."

Nora let Bobby bring her the button but never looked directly at him. Mavis noticed she was trembling and attempted to comfort her.

"Next up is stuck-up Courtney and her button goes to an equally pleasant person, Mordecai."

"You're quite the charmer too aren't you McLean." Mordecai snickered as Booby shook his head.

"Next button is loveable DJ and it gets rewarded by the much less lovable Callum."

"That's not nice!" Callum exclaims as he takes the button.

"Neither is trying to scare everyone." Zarra added.

"I thought it was funny!" Callum shrunk back into the crowd glumly.

"The longer this takes the longer we stand up here in the cold." Bobby mumbled, "Alright our next button is bad boy Duncan and it get rewarded to Zarra, once again."

She rolled her eyes and took the button.

"Eva's button goes to… Jacey."

She laughed and snatched the button.

"Alright, next, interestingly enough is Ezekiel, also surprisingly enough there's two buttons here. They go to the only sibling combination left that haven't gotten any buttons, Cameron and Sara.

They each grabbed one but Sara immediately dropped it. Cameron fastened it to her to make sure she wouldn't lose it.

"Addison gets his second button today from Harold"

Addison runs over to retrieve his second button, "Does this mean I can switch teams?"

"No, you're stuck on the gopher team dude." Bobby patted his back and sent him away.

"Next we have friends Katie and Sadie and their buttons go to Malik and Mavis respectively."

Malik smiled at Mavis as he handed her the button but she shook her head in rejection.

"And finally, the last button Tyler goes once again to Ike and Ivonne."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mavis** : I don't want anybody to think I'm all buddy-buddy with Malik. Sure, we're friends but I need to be able to talk to other people. He has siblings they should've had one of them instead.
> 
> **Cameron** : I think now I have the advantage of... not caring. Sounds pessimistic but I don't know what happened on the show so I'm not phased. All I know is that if Sara lasts too long, she's gonna end up either stabbing me or herself but I'd rather it be the former.
> 
> **Mordecai** : I'm not excited about my team. Sara and Callum are idiots, Malik can't pay attention to save his life, Mavis has no interest in anything and Zarra just doesn't want to be here. Nora and Ike are okay. I just don't know about Cameron… he gives off a vibe I don't like.
> 
> END

"Now before you consider ditching your button, hear me out." Bobby explained, "If you are able to last up to the point, your parent gets the boot you will receive a personal advantage in the challenge that day. But if you don't have your button on that day you won't get the advantage."

"How is that fair?" Rosie interrupted, "Some people have two buttons or two people have the same button and some of us won't be able to use our advantages until way later."

"One person with two buttons gets to choose when to use it. Addison, Petunia, Jacey and Nora will get an opportunity to pass on an advantage for a specific challenge. As for the groups with the same button, since they're in teams, they will share the advantage or they can choose who gets it. With that in mind Cameron, Sara, who gets the advantage?"

Cameron raises his hand confused, "Me? Probably."

"Alright, you'll get your advantage in the second part of the challenge. Bass it's diving time!"

The 10 Bass teens stare over the cliff at the safe zone below.

"You all know the drill. Jump into the ring below unless you want to be shark bait. Team with the most jumpers gets wagons."

"Who wants to go first?" Mavis asked looking down at the treacherous fall.

"I'll do it!" Malik exclaimed, walking towards Mavis, "We could jump together if you'd like?"

Mavis shook her head and pointed at the edge. Malik leaped over the cliff and Mavis gained the confidence to follow, both landing in the safe zone. Meanwhile, Zarra took one look down the cliff and looked over a Bobby.

"Yeah no." She said much to the dismay of her team.

"You know that makes you a chicken, right?" Bobby grabbed a hat and gave it to her. She rolled her eyes and placed it on her head. After this, Cameron hurried his way over to Bobby.

"I don't think I should jump...I recently had surgery so…" Cameron mumbled at the host. Bobby looked at him for a second.

"Right." He nodded. Before Bobby could do anything, Mordecai snuck up to Cameron and shoved him over the edge.

"Ass" Sara shouted to Mordecai who was watching Cameron land in the safe zone.

"I'm not losing this challenge," Mordecai stated, "Zarra already chickened out and I'm not risking anyone else." Mordecai jumped into the waters after Cameron and Ike and Sara followed.

"I'm not sure about this." Callum trembled at the top of the cliff.

Jacey ran to him for help, "What if we reenact Mordecai pushing Cameron over the edge?"

Callum laughed and proceeded to pretend-push Jacey but lost his footing and tripped on the edge. He grabbed hold of Jacey and they both fell.

"1 chicken 8 jumpers," Bobby announced, "Nora, you're up."

Nora sat alone on the cliff. "I don't want to," she whimpered as Bobby squatted down next to her.

"Hey it's okay," Bobby nodded in reassurance, "but it does make you a chicken."

He gave her the chicken hat and sent her down.

"Gophers it's your turn." Bobby gestured at them towards the edge of the cliff.

"So, who's going first?" Sophie asked eagerly. Rosie shifted her attention to Liam.

"I'm not jumping until I see Liam jump," Rosie badgered pointing at Liam, "I'm not losing this challenge because of him."

"Does pointing fingers and shouting names make you feel important?" Liam looked down at her. He walked over to the edge and let gravity pull him into the waters. Rosie's eyes widened as she realized she promised to go in after him.

"Well?" Landon raised an eyebrow at her, "If you won't go, I'm going to, c'mon Aiden." Landon grabbed his brother's arm but he pulled away.

"I-I'm not ready to go." Aiden stammered. Landon shrugged and jumped without him. Rosie gained her a little confidence to jump after Landon.

"I'm not jumping!" Aiden admitted to his team.

"Chickening out?" Bobby placed the chicken hat on Aiden's head who was looking over at Juliette.

"It's not a big deal," assured Junior, "We're still ahead by one." He smiled and made his way down the other end of the cliff.

Addison Petunia and Sophie jumped in one after the other. As Ivonne made her jump down, she hit her head on a buoy and missed the safe zone. Ike and some crew members came to her rescue.

"Juliette you're the last one." Bobby confirmed, "Take the plunge or take the chicken path down."

She hesitated as she looked at the water below, "Just give me the dumb chicken hat!"

"With that the Gophers and Bass tie two to two, however since Sophie won the mini-challenge for the Gophers they get -1 chicken from their score. Gophers win the wagons but is it enough, and will Cameron and the Bass have the better advantage? Find out when we return!"

**A/N These two chapters used to be separated but I am combining them. I was worried that the chapter would be too long but they are the shortest two so far.**

The gophers excitedly accepted their reward and start loading the wagons.

"Where's our reward?" Mordecai asked Bobby.

"Right," Bobby remembered, "Cameron since it's technically your reward. You get to pick your reward. But be careful because they may or may not have their own problems. So what'll be? You can have either a manual on how to build a hot tub or a crowbar to get the crates open."

Cameron looked back at his team for assistance. Mordecai aggressively mouthed at him to take the manual but Sara seemed more interested in the crowbar.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : So I'm weighing my options. I figure if anything the manual has something wrong with it. Also getting the crates open would be easier with the crowbar. But I knew if I picked it Mordecai would hate me.
> 
> END

"I'll take the crowbar." Cameron decided much to the disliking of Mordecai. Bobby handed him the big rusty chunk of metal and sent them on their way.

"If we lose tonight I can guarantee that you'll be the one getting sent home." Mordecai snapped.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : This is the first challenge and we can't take any risks! Like 10 dumb teens know how to build a hot tub from scratch anyway.
> 
> **Sara** : Once Cameron lets me hold the crowbar I'm going to smack Mordecai upside the head with it. He needs to leave my brother alone.
> 
> END

Meanwhile Zarra was pushing her crate behind the other Bass as she passed Addison. He ran up to her briefly to help her push the crate.

"Aren't you on the other team?" Zarra raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah but they don't need me right now." Addison replied, "With Landon, Junior and Liam they'll probably get the wagons back to camp in no time."

"So you're just here talking to me and not helping them." Zarra deadpanned.

"Well," he explained, "when I saw you on top of the cliff I wanted to tell you I liked your tattoo. Just thought I'd let you know now."

She wasn't even thinking about the Star Wars tattoo on her back but was appreciative of the compliment. "Thank you." She said warmly and he ran off.

Cameron and Ike were pushing creates next to each other in the sand.

"Why is it so heavy?" Cameron complained as he lost speed.

"I thought it was weird that you were letting your sister ride on top." Ike pointed out Sara who was sitting on top of the crate with the crowbar.

"Sara please don't." Cameron begged as he shooed her away.

"I need five seconds with it." Sara laughed as she tried to jump back up. He pushed her down and she pouted at him. Ike watched them fight with concern.

"Are you always that harsh with her?" Ike asked genuinely.

"No we're really close," Cameron reassured, "I'm just looking out for her."

"I wish I could look out for Ivonne while we're here. I know she gets carried away sometimes too." Ike muttered. Cameron patted Ike's back and they kept pushing their crates.

When the Gophers arrived to camp Bobby was already waiting there for them.

"So rules say you have to open your crates with you teeth and I don't have any say in the rules so… get crackin'" Bobby instructed.

"No way!" Juliette refuses as she looked at the crates.

"Hey it's alright," Landon comforted her, "we'll make Aiden do it."

> CONFESSIONAL
> 
> **Landon** : I like my brother, I just don't think he should be in the game. He's not really good at much… but at least I can get him to do stuff that I don't want to do.
> 
> END

As the Gophers were almost finished getting their crates open, the Bass started to arrive with their crates.

"Have fun getting those crates open losers!" Rosie mocked. Cameron smirked and waved his crowbar at her.

"Bobby how is that fair!" Rosie complained while running to Bobby.

"He gets an advantage remember?" Bobby responded monotonous, "you'll get your advantage at some point."

She stomped back over to her team who had finished unpacking the boxes. Junior was unpacking a box of wooden slabs and inspected them carefully.

"These boards are no good." Junior pointed out as he knocked on the slab.

"That's cheap total drama budget for ya." Addison laughed as he spread out the pieces.

The Bass quickly opened their crates and unpacked their boxes.

"So does anyone know how to build a hot tub?" Mordecai rolled his eyes, "reminder that Cameron lost us the manual."

"Can be too hard," Ike enthused, "I've set up a few hot tubs before so building one shouldn't be too hard."

"At least someone is useful on this team." Mordecai responded.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : Ike has been both helpful and naive. Which is pretty good for an alliance.
> 
> **Ike:** When Mordecai was impressed with me it made me happy. I'm glad someone appreciates me.
> 
> END

Both teams worked hard on building their hot tubs. The Gophers had a lead on the Bass with a nearly finished hot tub.

"We need the rings tighter!" Rosie instructed Liam and Addison as they were putting on the last piece. They tighter it ever so slightly and the boards snapped cause the hot tub to fall apart completely.

"I told you it wasn't going to hold." Junior mocked as Rosie fell to the ground.

"We're so dead. This is the end." Rosie cried.

"What if we use a crate instead as the vessel." Sophie suggested pointing to the empty crates.

"It's not a terrible idea but we'll have to improvise." Addison enthused while grabbing the pump.

A while later, the two teams were finished with their hot tubs and Bobby inspected them.

"The Bass have a pretty good hot tub. And the Gophers poured water in one of their crates." Bobby observed, "I think it's pretty clear who wins this challenge… the Bass! Which means you get to keep the hot tub for the remainder of the season.

The Bass celebrated and Callum emerged from the hot tub.

"Gophers get ready to vote someone off tonight because there will be an elimination ceremony after dinner."

The Gophers solemnly went back to their cabins to change.

At dinner, the teams sat at their respective tables.

"Someone better join me in voting off Liam." Rosie demanded to her team.

"I'm sitting right here," Liam deadpanned, "also I wasn't the one who broke the boards." He looked over at Junior.

"I didn't break them!" He exclaimed, "I just said they were weak."

"Like your attitude!" Rosie yelled, "Bobby hates us because of you, so if you stay, you need to stay quiet!"

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : Honestly, Rosie doesn't know she's doing. Maybe she's just as disturbed to be here as I am. I'd never win. But if I get to see Rosie leave before me that'd be worth it.
> 
> END

"Hey what happened to our chicken-hatted friends?" Sophie pointed out.

Landon looked around and noticed his brother wasn't around and used this as a great opportunity.

"Listen, Landon explained, "I know my brother, he's not going to be very useful in coming challenge. Plus I'm worried he'll get sick in this kind of environment. I think we should vote him off tonight."

"And I thought Rosie was nasty." Addison commented to the disliking of Rosie.

"I'm not trying to be nasty I'm just thinking of my brother here. Plus he didn't jump from the cliff, who knows what'll happen next.

The Gophers looked around at each other thinking of the elimination and what's to come.

Meanwhile on the dock, Aiden sat next to Juliette who was looking out on the water.

"Scared of going home?" Aiden asked he sat next to her.

"Maybe a little bit." Juliette responded, "It's so cold up here."

"It's probably wind-"

"No I mean Canada in general." Juliette explained, "I'm so used to it being so hot outside."

"Yeah it's usually a little cold." Aiden responded warmly. He looked over at her looking out into the night sky over the calm waters.

"I m-meant to tell you but I like your g-glasses." Aiden stuttered.

She giggled, "Thank you. So, are you worried about going home?"

"My brother doesn't want me here, but I don't think anything will happen this early. Let's head over to the campfire."

At elimination, Bobby brings out a plate of marshmallows.

"You all know what these are. A gooey treat that are a symbol of freedom. When I call your name you can come up a receive a marshmallow. If I don't call your name you'll head over to dock and take a one way trip on the loser boat."

"First marshmallow goes to… Addison, Petunia, Ivonne."

They claimed their marshmallows as the others shifted in their seats.

"Landon, Junior, Sophie…"

Junior exhaled heavily as he grabbed his marshmallow. Sophie looked over at Rosie who was confused she hasn't received one yet.

"Juliette, Liam… you're safe too. Rosie, Aiden, I have one marshmallow left on my plate."

Rosie and Aiden looked at each other nervously and back at Bobby.

"The final marshmallow goes to…. Rosie."

She sighed happily and grabbed her marshmallow.

"Sorry dude." Bobby put a hand on Aiden's shoulder, "you got a ticket to loser town."

Aiden walked sadly towards the dock and hugged his brother.

"Get better soon!" Sophie waved.

Aiden raised an eyebrow to Sophie and hopped on the boat. Juliette watched until the boat left and Addison lead her back to camp past the partying Bass.

"And that wraps up our first elimination. Will the Gophers fall apart before they can win a challenge? Will the Bass be able to keep winning? And who's leaving the island next? Tune in next time on Total Drama Island"


	4. The Big Sleep

The teams were sitting at their respective tables in the dining hall waiting for breakfast. The Gophers now one member shorter, they awkwardly looked at each other as they ate.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : I'm having a hard time trusting my teammates. I can't believe Landon would cheat his brother out like that. I'm an only child so I'd be thankful just to have a brother let alone have him with me here. So no, I didn't vote off Aiden, but I don't think Rosie is going anywhere soon either. There's also Ivonne… She seems nice and all but she keeps staring at me and I'm not falling down that rabbit hole.
> 
> END

"Poor Aiden." Addison sighed while looking at his food.

"Oh, get over it," Rosie argued, "We don't need both of them, we only get to use one of the advantages anyway."

"Addison, when are switching teams?" Petunia laughed.

"Well I-"

"That's not a bad idea," Rosie interrupted and then looked back at the other table, "Hey Bass! We'll trade you one-eye for laughs-a-lot."

"How about this, we'll give you Sara," Mordecai negotiated sarcastically, "But we want either Liam or Junior instead." Rosie frowned at his response.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** \- Rosie already knows how to work the advantages. I've seen the show, Gophers are scheduled to get an advantage for three weeks right before us. And those challenges aren't walks in the park either. I'd kill to get the paintball or cooking advantages. I need to make sure they don't get those advantages by making them send either Liam or Junior home.
> 
> END

"You're just jealous that we have the two tallest players on our team!" Addison mocked, shouting across the room.

"Please," Ike butted in, "those two can only lift about 50 lbs. collectively."

Meanwhile on the other side of the Bass table, Sara and Cameron were sitting away from the others.

"Did you bring your medication with you?" Cameron asked his sister.

She scoffed at him, "I don't remember. Just because you're so uptight about your injections doesn't mean I have to worry about my medicine."

Cameron put his hand over her mouth and mouthed at her to shut up.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** \- All of the odds are really stacked against me. I might as well out myself before Sara does. I've been medically transitioning for two years but it isn't that big of a deal. If the other contestants can't tell that I'm trans then it's not in their business to know. My sister is just so ignorant about it.
> 
> **Mordecai** \- I'm playing this game based on our advantages. I could dump Cameron and Sara since they already used their advantage but the biggest threats are the ones who will get their advantage after the teams merge. So Callum, Nora, and Zarra need to go first. Then there's Jacey… she gets an opportunity to hold her advantage until the teams merge. The only others who have this are Addison and Petunia but they are both on the other team. Whether the gophers figure that out is up to them.
> 
> END

Bobby walked into the dining hall to greet the campers. "Morning everyone. I hope you're ready for today's amazing challenge!"

"Challenge better start with breakfast!" Callum groaned and motioned to his empty bowl.

"Food will be served after we all take a pleasant jog around the edge of the island." Bobby confirmed.

"You're not gonna jog on the limp ankle are you Aubrey?" Junior laughed.

"And snarky campers otherwise known as Junior can go around the island twice."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie:** Mr. Omniscient is doing this on purpose. I'd vote him off if I didn't need his advantage.
> 
> **Junior:** Maybe I'm being harsh on Bobby but I've seen this show more than enough times to know that staying silent and being friendly doesn't get you very far. Also, Aubrey isn't that bad of a name, he should be glad my mom didn't name him.
> 
> END

The campers took off from the tent and proceeded to make their way around the island.

Rosie ran by a slow and careful Addison.

"What are you doing?" She shouted as she passed him, "you need to keep up!"

"You try running in a forest without depth perception!" As Addison responded Liam approached.

"Need a hand?" Liam grabbed Addison and flung him over his shoulders.

"This is the kingly treatment I always deserved!" Addison laughed. Rosie rolled her eyes and pouted as they sped on past her.

Meanwhile Malik ran up to Mavis. "Mind if I run here?" He coaxed.

"Uh yeah I kind of do." She grunted.

"Why don't you like me that much?"

She responded without looking at him, "It's not going to happen so just focus on the challenge."

Mavis ran fast and left a slum Malik in the dust.

Back at the tent, Mordecai ran inside excitedly.

"I made it back first?!" He panted to the seemingly empty tent.

He heard clapping coming from the bass table "great job!" Sara congratulated.

"How'd you get around before me. And you're not even tired?"

"There was a shortcut." She chuckled.

Junior wandered into the tent slowly.

"Dude I think you have another lap to go." Mordecai gibed at him.

"I'm like 198, I can make it around the island in three steps." He snickered.

Mordecai sat next to Sara who looked at him angrily.

"I'm getting… revenge." She revealed to still have the crowbar and proceeded to swing it in Mordecai's direction. The two tussled with it for a while.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai, bruised:** Sara is going home, I don't care how it's done.
> 
> **Junior:** Did I do two laps around the island? No. I barely did one, this part of the challenge doesn't matter anyway.
> 
> END

The campers piled in one after another until all 19 of them met with Bobby.

Slowly enough, Juliette walked into the tent and sat at her table. She was holding onto her glasses and her clothes and face were splattered in mud.

"What happened?" Petunia asked her as she sat down.

"Running isn't really for me is it." She responded and rolled her eyes.

Cameron looked over at his team, "Does this mean we won the challenge?"

Bobby walked past him and explained "That wasn't the challenge, as most of you already know. Breakfast is served. Next, you'll meet me outside by the campfire where we will be honoring an advantage.

As the campers made their way outside and to the campfire. Mordecai walked over to Bobby, "Well, where's our advantage?"

"Well, this isn't your advantage," Bobby reminded him, "Jacey, you get an option, you can either use your advantage now and help out your team, or you can hold it for the Say Uncle challenge farther down the road. So, what will you choose?"

Jacey looked around and smiled. Without much hesitation she exclaimed, "I'm gonna hold it."

"What?!" Mordecai shouted and grabbed Jacey's shirt as she started laughing, "Why are you holding it?"

"Too bad Jacey, I was going to add 12 hours to your time spent awake." Bobby announced, further irritating Mordecai.

"Let's just start shall we." Bobby continued, "Awake-a-thon starts… now"

The campers sat around the empty fire pit tired.

Zarra looked over a Cameron who was laying in the grass, "Where's Sara?" she asked.

He pointed up to a tree where she was hanging upside-down. Ike noticed this and quickly ran over to her.

"What if you fall?" He yelled concerningly.

"Lay there and you can cushion my fall!" She laughed, swinging back and forth, "I'm trying to be a bat since they are the creatures of the night."

Mordecai sighed loudly at this altercation and Ike sat next to him.

"Tired?" Ike asked him.

"Ike," he grinned, "See those tall freaks on the gopher team? One of them needs to go home… tonight. What can we do to make sure that happens?"

"Well Bobby already hates Junior so maybe if we make him annoy Bobby more, he'll just get kicked off."

Mordecai thought about it and walked over to the half-asleep teen.

"Aren't you on the other team?" Junior squinted as he sat down.

"That's beside the point," Mordecai deflected, "I was curious of how you knew what'd set off Bobby?"

"I don't think I set him off." Junior admitted, "If you're trying to get information out of me it won't work"

From the distance Juliette and Ivonne we're watching Mordecai and Junior's conversation.

"Isn't he dreamy? Ivonne cooed gesturing at Junior.

"Why don't you go for it?" Juliette suggested while chewing on gum.

Ivonne stammered, "well I don't know he's just…"

Before she could finish, she looked around and saw that her teammates Addison and Sophie had already fallen asleep.

7-10

"Guys it's been 12 hours." Bobby complained, "I figured more of you would fall asleep by now."

Ike felt like he was about to fall asleep but looked over and saw Mordecai wandering back over to him.

Ike yawned, "Mordecai I'm fading quickly."

Mordecai shook him, "no we have to win this challenge!" But it was a little late and Ike wandered off to sleep.

7-9

Rosie walked over to Liam who was slouching over.

"You're not falling asleep, are you?" Rosie accused him.

"Why don't you go target someone who is more ignorant?" Liam deadpanned.

"I haven't been targeting you? I don't want to lose this challenge."

"Then go and yell at the others," Liam suggested, "maybe focus on him" he gestured over to Junior who had just fallen asleep.

Minutes, hours, maybe days pass but 6 campers remain awake for the long haul: Liam, Rosie, Petunia, Sara, Malik, and Callum.

"Alright, whoever is out can head to the showers or wherever just don't stick around here anymore." Bobby announced as the losing campers started to leave. Addison failed to hear this announcement and remained cozied up in the grass. Callum noticed this and nudged Sara.

"Check this out," Callum snickered as he snuck over by Addison slowly. Callum beamed over him and squatted down to his level. He reached up to his waist and jabbed him in the sides suddenly. Addison jerked awake and reacted to this surprise. He kicked outward onto Callum's face and knocked him unconscious.

"Holy hell did I kill him?" Addison got up and looked at Callum while Sara and Malik laughed hysterically. Mordecai noticed the event and ran over.

"Callum you're absolutely useless!" He yelled at Callum who was still knocked out. Bobby came over to settle this.

"Well I guess that's one way to eliminate the other team." Bobby joked as interns helped Callum out.

"But he didn't even fall asleep he got kicked!" Mordecai argued.

"Yeah but there's no rules against it."

As this discussion was being held both Rosie and Malik fell asleep.

2-1

Liam looked over at Petunia who was laying on the ground with a notepad.

"Are you drawing?" he asked squatted over by her.

"Yeah writing or drawing usually helps me stay awake." She yawned while looking at her notepad, "you can look at my notebook if you want."

Liam took the book and was pleasantly surprised. She was drawing everything that had happened that day from Sara hanging in the tree to Addison decking Callum in the face. Her art was well done and cartoonish. Liam looked over at Petunia to compliment her but she had already fallen asleep.

"Damn that didn't take long." Liam set the book by her and looked over at Sara who was still in the tree.

"I can stay up here all day!" Sara yelled from the top of the tree "I've achieved enlightenment long ago sleep just holds me back!" She swung over hanging upside down and her brother ran over to her.

"Please be careful! I do not want to have to take you to the ER again!" Cameron shouted from underneath her. She laughed until her eyes rolled back and she collapsed to the ground and landed on her older brother. Cameron lifted her up and she fell a second time.

"Liam wins the Awake-a-thon! Bass, get ready for elimination tonight."

After the challenge Cameron sat outside the washroom while the other boys were getting ready to clean up. Callum walked up to him wearing nothing but a towel.

"Are you waiting for a shower buddy," Callum teased, "I'll wash your back if you wash mine."

Cameron recoiled at the comment, "no I think I'll be fine."

Mordecai glared over at them having this conversation, then turned to Mavis and Nora having their own discussion.

"Ladies, we need to talk." Mordecai butted in, "Callum needs to go home tonight."

"Um... no? He goes first." Mavis pointed over at Malik who was pulling up flowers in the distance.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai:** As much as I'd love to send home Cam's insane sister. Callum kinda messed today…. and when you mess up, you go down.
> 
> **Mavis:** Malik needs to go home. I can handle him most of the time but lately he's been freaking me out! The whole time during the challenge he kept writing my name in the dirt. I'm just over it.
> 
> **Addison:** I almost killed someone today. I think it's fair to think that I am now a lethal weapon. Hopefully they learn not to double cross me.
> 
> END

At the campfire. Bobby held up a plate for 9 marshmallows.

"Most of you know how this goes, if you receive a marshmallow you are safe from elimination but the one camper who does not receive a marshmallow must walk the dock and head over to the lower boat. The first marshmallow goes to… Mavis."

She ran over to grab her treat then looked over at Malik.

"Cameron, Zarra, Jacey."

The three of them stood up to claim their security.

"Next marshmallow goes to Nora, Ike, Mordecai."

"Three campers left but only two marshmallows remain…. Sara you're safe."

She ran over excitedly to get her treat.

Malik and Callum look at each other silently as they know that one of them is getting the boot tonight. Mavis waved over to Malik to intimidate him.

"This is the last marshmallow being served tonight, and it goes to…

Malik"

Malik sighed and went up to grab his treat. Mavis looked over in shock.

"Sorry Callum, the loser boat is calling your name tonight."

"About time." Mordecai whispered to Ike jokingly as Callum situated himself for departure.

Callum looked over sadly at his team then shrugged it off, "we'll it's been fun." He slumped down into the boat and was driven off the island into the open waters.

"So long to scares-a-lot Callum. That settles it for this week. Will Rosie and Liam ever get along? Will Junior eventually get my name right? And will Mordecai ever get revenge on Sara? Find out next time on Total drama island!"


	5. DodgeBrawl

In the bass cabin, the boys, now one less, were shifting in their bunks in the morning. Cameron rolled over in his sleep but was abruptly woken up by his bunk mate. He leaned over looking under his bed.

"Malik!" Cameron groaned, "do you have to be so annoying in the morning."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : I've been having the worst sleep since I got here… and at home I share a bunk bed with Sara. If you're a worse roommate than her, you need to fix yourself.
> 
> END

Mordecai got out of bed and started getting dressed. He looked up at Ike on the top bunk who was sitting upright and Cameron on the other side of the room who had his blanket up to his neck.

"Hurry up so we can get a head start in the morning." Mordecai demanded his roommates as he got dressed. Cameron then jumped out of bed already dressed.

"Maybe you should get ready sooner," Cameron mocked, "I've already showered and gotten dressed.

"Whatever," Mordecai rolled his eyes, "just because you're used to being up at 4am doesn't mean you're doing any better than the rest of us."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai:** I do not trust Cameron; he's been acting pretty shifty since he's gotten here and I don't know what he's planning but he isn't getting any farther than me in this race. I'll make sure of that.
> 
> **Cameron** : Maybe my family likes to get up that early but I am more of a refined person who likes to get up at like noon… 1:30. I've been getting up early to get in the showers when no one else is in there. It's dreadful but it beats showering with the other guys. Especially since I heard Addison sings when he's in there.
> 
> END

The campers all meet Bobby in the gym. Addison changes his attire for the event as he knows what's to come.

"Nice shorts." Liam comments sarcastically at Addison.

"If today is dodgeball day, then I'm ready to rock!" Addison exclaims. Junior overhears this and starts laughing.

"How are you going to play when you can't even tell how close you are to the line." Junior asked jokingly, leaning over him. Addison just crosses his arms at the remark.

"Campers!" Bobby announces, "today we're going to play a little game called dodgeball. You all know the rules by now; If you get hit with the ball you're out, if you catch a ball the thrower is out you can deflect the ball but if you drop your ball in the process you are out. Any questions?

"Yes," Rosie chimed in, "where's the advantage?"

"Of course," Bobby remembered as he looked at a stack of papers, "in the season one, episode Dodgebrawl, the gopher Noah chose to sit out for the whole game causing his team to vote him off. Juliette, since you get the advantage, you get to pick which one of your teammates will sit out for the day, you also get to choose one Bass to sit out for the day."

Juliette looked around nervously.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Juliette** : I've never played dodgeball. Not because I didn't want to but maybe my school just didn't have PE. So, I had no idea who to even pick. I had seen the show like once so I just used the knowledge from that.
> 
> **Addison** : The most dominant person in a room is always the tallest by default. If I am able to overpower the tallest aka Junior then I'll be the most dominant. It's what the ladies here deserve. Also, I really just want to hit him with a dodgeball.
> 
> END

She looked over at her team to pick one. Rosie and Junior pointed at Addison who was shaking his head to deflect the attention off of him. Landon and Petunia seemed uninterested in the decision. Then Juliette looked at the Bass, Mordecai pointed at Sara who stared angrily back at him. Ike hid in the back to avoid getting picked and Jacey jokingly pointed at Malik.

Juliette made her decision, "for my team I'm going to pick…. Addison."

"Why me!? I could've dominated this game!" Addison cried out.

"With your lack of depth perception? Please." Rosie jeered.

Juliette piped back up, "for the bass I'm picking… Jacey."

"Ha I won!" Jacey laughed.

"You know that means you have to sit and watch us, right?" Zarra asked.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Ike** : So, I'm holding out. I'm nervous for Ivonne to play. Not cause she's bad or anything though. See... I mostly stick to playing hockey but Ivonne is really athletic. If she destroys me on the court today then I probably can never go home.
> 
> **Jacey** : So, this is fun…. I don't really speak English so I have no idea what's been happening.
> 
> **Junior** : I knew we were going to play dodgeball today but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it. I think I'll be able to throw fine but I just know I'm going to get hit below the belt at some point.
> 
> **Cameron** : I don't like dodgeball. In school I always got picked last and usually it was Sara who refused to pick me just to try and hit me with the ball. Also, I'm not really supposed to be doing too much physically so if I end up getting knocked out, I'm keeping the police dialed.
> 
> END

"5 people will be on the court at the beginning of each match. First team to three wins. You have two minutes to prep until the first game." Bobby instructed.

The 9 gophers gathered into a huddle.

"First round should be me, Liam, Junior, Landon and Sophie. Any objections?" Rosie suggested.

"Ooh ooh I should be on the court!" Ivonne chirped.

"No! I think we start with some um... stronger teammates." Rosie disagreed.

"You're just making a rude assumption." Liam pointed out, deadpanned.

"Yeah and I'll make an assumption that you're a moron! Now get on the court." Rosie demanded, "Ivonne, you can swap places with Sophie."

In the bass huddle, Mordecai starts to take commands.

"Ike, Zarra, Cameron, Mavis, and me. I think that'll work best." Mordecai offered.

"I don't think that'll work for me." Cameron mumbled, "Sara can play, or Malik…"

CONFESSION .

 **Cameron** : I'd love to see either one of them get hit with a dodgeball...

END

"Well Cameron, if you're going to chicken out of dodgeball maybe we can vote you off tonight." Mordecai taunted. Cameron rolled his eyes but gave in to Mordecai's demands. He unclips the small black pouch from his hip and hands it to his sister for safe-keeping.

With ten players on the court ready to play, Bobby blows the whistle and the teams run towards the dodgeballs. Junior grabs two and hands one to Landon. Mordecai grabs one and immediately throws it in Rosie's direction; it collides with her shoulder, leaving her team with four players. Ivonne glares at Mordecai, holding a dodgeball in her hands, she launches the ball towards him, knocking him down and causing him to slide to the back of the court.

> CONFESSION .
> 
> **Junior** : My advantage over Ivonne was that she's a foot shorter than me, but now I think that she could break my kneecaps.
> 
> **Ivonne** : The nice thing about this game is that I can show off my worth to the team. Also, I'm hoping to impress Junior. Nothing else has been getting his attention. I've even been leaving my panties on his bed for the past few days and he still hasn't gotten the message! Ugh guys are so difficult.
> 
> **Junior** : Ivonne has been leaving her gitch on my cabin bunk so I've been doing the mature thing of moving them onto Landon's bunk.
> 
> END

Cameron looked back at Ike and gestured towards Ivonne. Ike looked down at the ball he just picked up and hurled it towards his younger sister. She placed herself in a balanced position and caught the ball, but much to her surprise another ball came flying her way and knocked her out by surprise. She looked over at Zarra and Mavis high-fiving and the rest of the team cheering.

On the bench, Sophie sat next to Addison in efforts to cheer him up.

"Sorry you weren't able to play," Sophie comforted, "I'm sure you'll do something great in the next challenge."

"Nah it's whatever," Addison sighed as he looked over at the Bass team then back at Sophie, "Hey you think your sister likes me?"

Sophie laughed confusedly, "She doesn't even like me. It'd be like trying to get Katherina all over again."

Addison looks back in Zarra's direction when something catches his eye, "One moment." Addison whispered as he stood up and walked behind Bobby's chair. He sat back down and revealed to Sophie what he found.

"You took a dodgeball from Bobby?" She chuckled quietly. Amidst the game, Addison stands up on the bleachers and chucks the ball at his lengthy rival, striking him in the back of the head. Bobby blows his whistle while Junior looks back at Addison and Sophie laughing hysterically.

"There's no way that can count right?" Junior groused at the host.

Bobby thought for a moment and decided, "Well… Addison isn't really supposed to play… but you do kinda annoy me so I guess we'll just call it… even."

"That is not fair! Addison on our team!" Rosie shouted from the bleachers.

"Well I'm making the rules today and I saw the dude get hit so he's out."

Junior sat down on the bleachers and Rosie approached him angrily.

"I guess your height makes up for your tiny brain," Rosie mocked, "None of this would happen if you weren't always picking fights with people."

Instead of giving Rosie a response Junior stuck his fingers in his ears and started humming loudly. She huffed and left him on the edge of the bleachers.

This first round ended rather quickly with the Bass winning the first point. The teams huddled up and tried again with the same lineup of people. With the gophers more in check they were able to even the score.

"Okay," Bobby interrupted, "I'm sure you're all having fun. I'm going to mix up the game a little bit. You all seem too comfortable with these challenges anyway"

"You'll let me on the court?" Addison chirped up.

"Don't count it," Bobby commented and looked back at the others, "I've been in contact with a lot of your parents recently and I've been asking them for dirt on you guys. They've been pretty brutally honest. I didn't even realize that some of you had a parent introduced in a different season? So, here's what we'll do, four of you on the court, two bass, two gophers, one person left. That person gets an advantage in the next round but it'll be unique to your other-season parent. I'll give your team 30 seconds to find those two people."

> CONFESSIONAL
> 
> **Cameron** : I'm hoping Bobby didn't find any dirt on me. Cause I'm sure there's a lot of dirt to found.
> 
> **Zarra** : I have to admit, changing the rules makes the game more interesting. Too bad I can't have that advantage though. Not like I'll ever get mine anyway.
> 
> END

Mordecai pointed at Zarra and Ike, "Well it isn't you guys so on the bleachers."

"Why are you judging them like that," Cameron shrugged, walking towards the center of the court.

"Well it probably isn't you either genius." Mordecai snorted.

"Oh, I thought we were aware it was me." Cameron mumbled.

Mordecai laughed, "Then it's you versus me. What about Sara?"

Bobby overheard this discussion and chimed in, "Cameron or Sara can do it; it just has to be two vs two.

On the gopher side, Rosie looked at her remaining team and disregarded Ivonne, Addison, Petunia and Sophie. She pointed at Landon who shook his head. She looked over at Liam who held his open palm up to hide his pointing finger in Junior's direction. She rolled her eyes and approached him.

"Up" Rosie demanded as Junior quickly stuck his fingers back into his ears. She tugged on him causing him to fall off the bleachers and land onto the court with a thud. Bobby blew his whistle indicating that time was up.

"Mordecai and Sara vs Rosie and Big-mouth" Bobby yawned, "This should be interesting. Last loser left gets a reward."

Each player gets handed a dodgeball before Bobby blows his whistle.

Rosie immediately throws her dodgeball at her fellow teammate.

"Like I'd let you have it!" Rosie snorted as she grabbed her dodgeball off the ground. Petunia smiles from the bleachers as she shows Juliette her sketch from the altercation.

Mordecai noticed this altercation and looked back at Sara, who for a moment was not on the court. Just seconds later he notices his teammate behind him with an entire bag full of the foam balls. She laughs as she pelts her rival and slowly empties the bag. Rosie sighs and toss the dodgeball at Sara.

"Well that was… uh eventful." deadpanned Bobby as he walked onto the court, "Looks like Rosie is the winner."

"Yes, and I'll take that reward now." Rosie piped as she stretched out her hand.

"Yeah," Bobby hands her a catcher's mask, "Maybe it'll protect your head."

Rosie rolls her eyes in annoyance and accepts the reward.

On the Bass side, Mordecai angrily walks over to his team.

"Sara," He fumed, "You cost us that round!"

Sara laughed, "Well I think it was a fair trade off. We lost the round but your reaction was priceless!"

Her laughing was matched with Jacey, who has been still on the bench this challenge.

"Sara, you have to try harder," Jacey snickered while pulling Cameron's shoulders, "Your brother is so sad."

"Yeah I'm just weeping at the sight of all." Cameron played along while Mordecai tried to ring them back in.

"New rules," Bobby announced, interrupting all conversations, "If you haven't played for your team yet, it's time to get on the court. Unless you were chosen to sit out. Team that wins, get a point. Since the Gophers won the 2v2 match, they are one away from immunity tonight."

On the Gopher bench Liam started making demands, "Petunia, Juliette, Sophie, Rosie and Ivonne. That's the best team we can have."

"All girl team!" Petunia cheered as she ran onto the court.

Junior looked at Liam and smirked, "Out here defending the ladies eh?

"Ivonne's the strongest player and Rosie has the advantage. It worked out." Liam articulated

Landon overheard this conversation and interjected, "I think I'm the strongest dodgeball player."

Liam and Junior both openly laughed at him.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Landon** : Liam and Junior think that they are so cool. I think they're a couple of freaks. They need to know their place which is back in the circus.
> 
> **Liam** : It has been increasingly clear to me that Rosie is trying to outshine the rest of the team, she thinks that will help her get farther or something. I just don't want to the other members of the team to feel like they're falling behind. I mean it's not their fault that Rosie runs at 200 miles an hour.
> 
> END

The bass team focused on setting up their next lineup.

"So… it's me, Malik and-and Sara." Nora clarified in a soft tone.

"I want Cam on the court too!" Sara exclaimed as she grabbed her brother's arm.

"Uh-uh I have a doctor's note." Cameron beseeched.

"You played earlier," Mordecai quipped.

Zarra stood up from the back of the bleachers "I'll play again." She offered, walking onto the court.

With the teams lined up again, Bobby sounded off and the teams ran toward the center to grab a dodgeball. Petunia grabbed on for Juliette whose eyes were widened by the unfamiliarity.

"Throw it!" Petunia encouraged. Juliette made aim at Cameron but was unsuccessful. She smiled and ran for another dodgeball.

Zarra stared down Rosie who developed a new sense of confidence upon receiving the mask. Zarra held off from releasing her ball.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Zarra** : Rosie bothers me. What a brat! My little cousins act more mature than her.
> 
> END

Zarra finally let go of the ball and was able to hit Rosie on her mask. Bobby blew the whistle.

"That didn't count," Rosie complained, "It hit the mask!"

"The mask doesn't make you immune from getting hit."

Rosie huffed and sat on the bleachers. Cameron made an additional throw toward the gopher team only for the ball to be caught by Ivonne. As Petunia was able to help Ivonne kick Malik she noticed Juliette still struggling to hit a component. Sara grabbed a ball out of Zarra's hands and threw it at Petunia. Sara cheered and high-fived Nora who cracked a slight smile. Much to her surprise, she was lifted off the ground by her unhinged teammate. Sara snatched Nora's ball and hit Sophie, who was dazed at the sight of this altercation. Ivonne used this opportunity to strike Nora with a ball. It made forceful contact with her eye which she covered with her cupped hands as she ran off the court.

"Good going Sara!" Zarra snapped as Bobby blew the whistle. The game went on as Ivonne reached for a ball thrown by Zarra. In her success she caught it eliminating Zarra but in a matter of seconds Sara was able to knock her off the court as well.

"We're doomed." Rosie moaned as her head fell into her hands.

The two girls left on the court stared at each other as their respective teams cheered. Juliette reached for a ball on the floor as Sara launched hers at the back wall, missing her competitor. She looked up in confusion.

"Just catch one and it'll be okay!" Ivonne encouraged from the audience.

Sara pelted another ball but this aim made direct aim at Juliette. Without hesitation, Juliette closed her eyes and used the ball in her hands to deflect it away from her. In this quick moment, Sara had thought she won, but failed to see the ball she had just thrown heading her way and hitting her on the side.

"I won?" Juliette looked up as Bobby blew the whistle one last time.

"Gophers win! Bass lose!" Bobby announced as the winning team ran onto the court to celebrate their victory.

"Well, this won't be too much of a loss I can assure that." Mordecai swore as Sara ran back to her team.

"Good game?" She laughed uncomfortably as she looked at her disappointed team.

"Twice in a row has to suck." Bobby taunted the Bass team at the elimination ceremony, "I have eight marshmallows to represent the eight of you who are safe for another week. The camper who does not receive a marshmallow must walk the dock of shame and board the boat of losers. The first marshmallow goes to Zarra."

She stands up and collects her security as the others wait to be listed.

"Mordecai…. Ike…. Cameron...Jacey…. Malik and…. Mavis."

One by one they stand up leaving two nervous teens left.

"Nora, Sara," Bobby continued, "This is the final marshmallow. Nora, you're the only person that played that never made a throw and Sara, you blew it pretty big in the mini-round. The choice was relatively unanimous that the final marshmallow goes to…...Nora."

"What?" Sara gasped as she looked at her team. She ran over to her older brother for a hug goodbye.

"You voted me off" she whimpered as her head buried in his shirt.

"No, I wouldn't do that." He reassured her. He released her as she set forward to the dock to board to trip away from the island.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : I really didn't vote for her. I just feel like my team thinks I'm so cold to Sara but we're pretty tight. But now that she's gone, I don't have to worry about her blabbing secrets… at least.
> 
> **Mordecai:** Good riddance Sara. If she wasn't so crazy, I might've actually let her stay. The only people left on my team with individual advantages are Zarra, Jacey and Nora. Hopefully they'll go next!
> 
> END

In the gopher cabin, on the boy's side, Liam and Junior we're getting settled in for the night.

"Think Rosie's gonna vote you off next?" Liam said jokingly to his bunk mate.

"Well I…"

Their conversation was interrupted by Landon who was standing rustling his sheet.

"Check this out," Landon smirked reveals a pair of underwear from the other side of the bunk, "I think they're Juliette's. I know she digs me."

"Yeah she totally digs you man." Junior reassured while trying not to laugh. Landon settled into his cabin bunk for the night with his newly instilled confidence.


	6. Not Quite Famous

Another three days pass and another challenge slowly approaches. Nora sat outside the cabins and tended her eye, still swollen and bruised from the previous challenge. Addison approaches her and sits beside her on the steps.

"You can borrow my eye patch if you want." He suggested as he handed her the mask. She rejected his offer as Bobby motioned everyone to the theater.

"Please can we not do this challenge today?" Zarra complained as she sat on the Bass side of the bleachers.

"I agree, last time around this challenge turned pretty cruel." Nora budded in. The area filled with chatter and debate before Bobby could get on the stage. He silenced the crowd by tapping on his mic.

"Today we are having an ol' fashion talent show." Bobby announced, "Three acts from each team will perform, the team with the overall highest score wins."

"Who's judging us?" Mordecai asked as he pointed towards the craft services tent.

"There hasn't been any chef since we've been here." Juliette added.

"I have something a lot better," Bobby revealed, "This time around it will be your parents judging your performances. And I made sure they know to judge harshly."

The kids were shocked and they exploded with complaints and annoyances.

CONFESSION

 **Junior** : Bobby has been making this way more difficult than it has been. I'm sure he thinks he's clever, calling our parents and spilling our secrets. I don't really have anything to hide but I'm sure he wants to try to embarrass me the most.

 **Cameron** : Wait so last time around there was a chef who cooked all the meals? I've only been eating kids' cuisine since I've gotten here and I think it's been making me light-headed.

END

"Hold on, hold on," Bobby shouted over the crowd, "we still have a reward to hand out."

Landon sluggishly got up and walked to the edge of the stage. Bobby handed him a box filled with what appeared to be a deck of cards.

"What am I supposed to do with these, magic?" He asked jokingly.

"You'll see what they're for in a moment. Meet me back here by dusk for your performance."

Once the gophers got in front of the cabins, Rosie focused on the deck of cards given to Landon.

"What is it?" Rosie asked as she attempted to snatch the box.

Landon opened it and realized that they were not playing cards, but cards with information on them.

"I guess it's supposed to be what everyone's talent is." Landon suggested while he sifted through the cards.

Rosie snatched a few and added, "Bobby even gave us the talent on the Bass team. This is a great advantage!"

"How does Bobby know our talents?" Juliette asked the team.

"He told us last challenge that he's been calling our parents." Junior reminded her.

"And whose fault is that!?" Rosie accused, looking back at him.

"How did you even know that Bobby's real name wasn't Bobby." Petunia giggled.

"Oh please," Rosie scoffed, "You cannot tell me his momma wasn't feeding him all this information before he got here. He probably has more dirt on us than Bobby."

"I-I uhh" Junior froze as his teammates pointed fingers at him.

After a short moment Liam intervened, "It's because of the Facebook group. He's a moderator. I know because my half-sister's in that group as well."

Rosie laughed, "So you're the one digging up the dirt!"

CONFESSION

 **Junior** : Yeah so, a couple years ago I joined this group that was for fans of the show. My mom didn't have anything to do with the group, I just searched it up and it was the first result. I just wanted to see what they were about you know? I thought it'd be like funny pictures or clips but it mostly turned out to be leaks. It wasn't even an hour after I sent a request to join the group that I received maybe 10 message requests and the admins made me a moderator. I just don't know what could've given me away.

 **Addison** : I knew that guy was a snake. I could be mad but I'm oddly curious what he knows.

END

The bass team made sure there was a distance between them and the gophers and began to plan their performances away from the cabins.

"Okay so…" Mordecai quired, "who's talented?"

"I have something!" Malik announced, "I can drown Cameron on stage so we can find out if he's a witch!"

"Stop this." Cameron cried out while pushing Malik away.

CONFESSION

 **Cameron** : After the dodgeball challenge Malik and the others kept bickering me about who my mom was, even though I already told them she was on a different season. Now Malik has been making comments at me calling me a witch and I'm just…. Tired.

END

"Malik do you have a real talent that requires not killing our teammates?" Zarra suggested.

"I hold the sport cup stacking record at school. People haven't been cup stacking in years, but I beat the last guy who did it. He had a 15-year record!"

"Oh god no." Mavis sighed as she placed her hands over her face.

"If it has to come down to that I'll keep you in mind." Mordecai rolled his eyes and looked over at Ike for a diversion.

"Uhh," Ike hesitated, "I might be able to still do a backflip. Hey Jacey, you got a talent?"

"...Talent?"

"We're doomed." Zarra stressed as she looked at Mordecai.

Back at the Gopher set-up, Ivonne and Juliette were watching the others argue over who should perform.

"Weren't there like any musicians last time?" Juliette inquired.

"Of course!" Ivonne exclaimed as she remembered, "There was a whole band from total drama."

After mentioning this to Juliette she looked over at the members of her team and had an epiphany.

"I have an idea!" Ivonne announced as she joined the others, "We have a Drama Brothers tribute with Landon, Addison, Junior, and Sophie.

"I love it!" burst Sophie.

"Probably one of the better ideas we've had today." Rosie added.

"I don't like this idea," Landon opined, "It's weird."

"Well maybe we chose the wrong twin to eliminate!" provoked Rosie as they glared at each other.

Junior intervened jokingly, "If we go up there, I want to recommend playing a ballad of sorts? Preferably something off the Hannah Montana soundtrack?"

Landon laughed, "If Junior sings Hannah Montana I will go up on stage."

"Absolutely not!" Rosie demanded.

"I third that vote!" Sophie added.

Rosie sighed, "Four of you just go off and figure something out! If it doesn't work it doesn't work. Landon, give me the cards, we need two more acts."

Landon gave her the cards and she split the deck and passed half of them to Liam. As he started sifting through them, Rosie continued.

"So Petunia, what can you do in regards to drawing?" Rosie inquired while looking at a card.

"I liked that guy on the Anderson Cooper show, you know the guy that paints really fast. She could try that." Juliette suggested.

"I don't have a canvas." Petunia frowned.

"I might be able to get you one." Liam offered, then looked down at his next card, "Rosie you can breakdance?"

Her face immediately reddened at the remark.

"Girl you have to show us!" Ivonne encouraged her, which sparked up the other girls to positively chime in.

"No-no, absolutely not." She beseeched, "I'm taking 5, Liam keep… finding something." She shoved the stack of cards onto him and headed towards the washrooms.

The bass team kept throwing around ideas.

"Okay hear me out," Cameron added, "Let me play something on the drums. We will win for sure."

Jacey laughed, "You're going to find drums out here in the woods?"

"So, you want to perform a song but with the drums? Not guitar or piano?" Ike questioned.

CONFESSION

 **Cameron** : When I was little, I never watched TV or videos online or anything like that. Music is where it's been for me. I'd honestly love to go on stage and play something. I didn't bring an instrument but in my band class we've played on buckets before. I've gotten pretty good at it.

 **Mavis** : If Malik goes on stage and stacks cups, I honestly hope I get eliminated next.

END

"I mean drumming can be cool," Zarra affirmed, "Let the dude do what he wants."

"Okay so right now our only two ideas are Malik stacking cups and Cameron hitting on a bucket. What else can we do?" Mordecai urged.

"Mavis can carve a mean pumpkin!" Malik exclaimed as he tugged on her shoulder.

"I am not going on stage and carving a pumpkin… in May." Mavis rejected.

"Nora hasn't said anything. Nora what you got going on? You've been holding out on us." Cameron needled as he squatted down to Nora, who was sitting in the grass.

Nora shook her head in rejection but Cameron stayed eye-level with her until she eventually opened up.

"I… might have something." she muttered. She stood up and ran to the cabin. She returned with a small duffle bag. Without saying anything she revealed a black strip of fabric

"You are not a black belt." Mordecai disputed. Zarra helped her set up a board so she could give a demonstration.

"Nice Cameron." Ike praised Cameron as he stood up.

Malik laughed, "I'm sorry just every time you say Cameron, I just think of season four Cameron."

CONFESSION

 **Cameron** : I'm starting to regret my name choice. Maybe I should have done my research. At least I'm not the only person here with the problem. Also, Malik just likes to ruin my life. I really hope he leaves next.

END

Over by the campfire, Sophie, Landon, Junior and Addison were figuring out what they were going to do for an act.

"Okay so I was hoping to team up with the three of you for something. I have gifts." Addison announced as he sat a wrapped-up towel on a table. He unwrapped the towel and revealed four pairs of sunglasses.

"You found all the sunglasses?" Sophie laughed as she grabbed a random pair.

"Not that," Addison added, "These are the original pairs worn by the Drama Brothers. I am an excellent beggar of things. They are labeled and please be gentle with them."

Sophie handed the pair she grabbed to Landon and Junior picked up another pair.

"These one's say they were Sasquatch's" Junior commented as he looked at the glasses.

"Junior you are Sasquatch so you're not one to complain." Addison quipped.

"Guys why don't we get some instruments and figure out what we want to do." Sophie intervened. Landon, Addison and Junior all looked at each other as Sophie ran off to grab equipment.

CONFESSION

 **Sophie** : I'm sensing a lot of tension between the boys. I always thought guys were more chill but it doesn't feel that way.

 **Landon** : Going up on stage with Cyclops and Jolly Green Giant is probably the most embarrassing thing I can think of doing in this competition. Maybe it would be better for Aiden to be here. At least he's okay with being embarrassing.

 **Addison** : I know that I'm the handsomest person here but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to stand out with Landon and Junior pretending they're all that. Junior's already got Ivonne swooning over him. That dude irks me.

 **Junior** : I will probably end up going home soon. My team hates me, Bobby hates me. They all think I'm running some underground forum to spy on them. Maybe it is better to just watch the show from home.

END

Sophie came back with a couple of guitars and a metronome.

"I think we can make this work," Sophie handed one of the guitars to Junior and set the metronome on the table.

"Right all we need to start a band is the glasses and a couple of guitars, right?" Junior quipped.

"It's a start." Sophie commented as she pulled Landon up out of his chair.

CONFESSION

 **Sophie** : Being one of the boys is harder than I thought it'd be. I hope the rest of the team is doing better than we are.

END

Liam walked behind the washrooms until he spotted Rosie sitting under a tree.

"Hey what happened?" He asked as he sat next to her.

"I'm fine," Rosie falsely reassured as she tugged Liam's mask off, "I can barely understand you with that mask on."

"You don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with you know," Liam counseled, "But if you keep hiding, you're not going to feel any better."

"Just drop it," Rosie ordered, "It's not like me breakdancing on stage is going to work anyway. My parents hate it."

Liam exhaled, "But you like it right?"

"Well I mean…" Rosie was interrupted as Liam leaned over to kiss her. She was shocked by the unexpected kiss but eventually gave in.

He slowly let go and leaned away from her. She looked up at him and unexpectedly slapped him on the cheek.

"What's your edge?" She deflected the interaction.

Liam put his mask back on, "Do you feel confident yet?"

She blushed but immediately snapped back, "Don't tell anyone okay. Cause I will end you."

Liam shrugged as he stood up. He helped her stand back up and they walked over to the rest of the team.

"Liam you got the canvas?" Juliette inquired.

"Yeah," Liam revealed a frame with a portrait of Chris on it, "With a few coats I'm sure we can cover him up."

"So that's it then," Rosie decided, "We'll have Petunia, me, and the boys as our three acts."

"Wait you're going to dance!" Petunia cheered.

"Yeah, I think it'll work out," Rosie smiled then looked around, "Where's Junior and the others?"

"They haven't come back yet." Ivonne answered.

Rosie rolled her eyes and went off to find them.

Meanwhile the bass team sat around in awe as they waited for Nora. Zarra found a plank and placed it in between two tree stumps. Nora looked down slowly at the plank and proceeded to break it with her hand. The team cheered for her in excitement.

Mordecai ran up to her, "Finally we have something good! Where'd Malik go? If he plans on stacking cups, he better show us."

"I thought it felt quiet." Cameron remarked.

"He went to find plastic cups." Mavis clarified, "The quiet is nice though."

CONFESSION

 **Nora** : I hope my team starts to find me more useful. I really thought last time I'd be the one getting eliminated. Maybe I'll do better today.

 **Mordecai** : Nora? Please. If she succeeds then she's fine but if we lose then it's a good reason to vote her off. One less person with an individual advantage.

END

Rosie found the four new bandmates sitting around a picnic table, with Addison pretending to play the guitar while standing on the table.

"What are you bozos doing?" Rosie shouted.

"Addison is giving us an example of how we should play," Landon answered as he rolled his eyes.

"It's going great!" Addison laughed as he jumped back. His foot landed on a small hole in the table, throwing him off balance. He failed to regain composure and collapsed onto Junior, causing both of them to fall over and hitting their heads on the ground. The sound of the fall brought the rest of the team over.

"What happened." Liam asked, then he picked up Addison and set him on the picnic table.

Junior lifted himself up and Ivonne keeled next to him.

"Junior your nose!" Ivonne alarmed as he felt under his nose and noticed the blood.

"That's nice isn't it." Junior sighed as he looked up at Addison. Addison was noticeably woozy and scraped up his hands and face.

"He might have a concussion." Liam pointed out, "I don't think he'll be able to play like this."

"No…. I wanna play still." Addison groaned as he held his head.

"Well I'm leaving the band too then," Landon announced, "Junior and Sophie, you got this right?"

"Junior, are you okay to play?" Ivonne asked while helping him up.

"I'm alright." He reassured her.

"Well you better be," Rosie nagged, "Our parents are going to be here soon and you both have to get ready."

The teams had hours left to prep. Liam helped Petunia paint over Chris' face, Sophie and Junior practiced with their guitars and Rosie went off alone to practice. Zarra had found some bricks to set up for Nora. Cameron grabbed a bucket and practiced his act and Malik set up on a picnic table to stack and collapse the plastic cups he grabbed from the craft services tent. As the teams practiced, they slowly saw the sun go down and headed towards the auditorium.

The teams settled back into the bleachers where Bobby met with them from the top of the stage.

"Yeah you're all going to have to make room on the bleachers," Bobby suggested, "Also talent can head backstage in ten. Anyway, I don't think any introduction is needed. Please welcome the 22 original campers back to camp."

An overwhelming flood of negative feelings flooded the room as the kids were reunited with their parents for the first time in weeks. A lot of the talent already felt the extra layer of anxiety of performing in front of them and later being judged by them.

CONFESSION

 **Zarra** : Oh god this isn't happening. I'm definitely going backstage to hide.

 **Rosie** : I didn't think they'd physically show up! I can't do this. I-I just… can't

 **Cameron** : It doesn't bother me that much honestly. Maybe everyone's freaking out because they actually know everyone. As long as no one talks to me for the next hour I'll be fine.

 **Junior** : I actually feel bad for the people who aren't very close with their parents. Like… I'm kinda nervous but imagine what someone like uh... Liam is feeling.

 **Liam** : Let's just pretend I'm confessing to something for a while…

END

All the original campers were standing on the side by the bleachers and slowly filled in the empty spaces.

"Welcome back to camp OG campers," Bobby welcomed, "Now if you could please sit in the bleachers according to your original team. If your kid is on the opposite team sorry, I'm trying to keep it equal. If you can't find your kid that probably means they were eliminated already."

In the gophers' bleachers, Addison was startled when Leshawna sat next to him and noticed the scrapes surrounding his face.

"What happened to you." She asked as she looked at his hands.

Addison trembled as he pointed towards Junior from the opposite side of the bleachers, "Him. He's ruining my life!"

Junior raised his eyebrows at Addison while he felt his hat get snatched from behind him. He turned around in reaction but laughed when he realized it was Cody sitting by him.

"You got scuffed up a bit?" He noticed.

Junior pointed back at Addison, "Yeah. He fell on top of me."

Junior felt someone tapping him on the shoulder; he looked back and saw Beth standing in the row behind him.

"Have you seen Liam?" She asked.

"No," Junior replied, "He might be in the bathroom though. I think I saw him heading that way."

Trent stood at the bottom of the bleachers by Sophie and cupped his hands over his eyes to see if he could see Zarra, who had already moved backstage to help Nora. Duncan noticed him and shrugged back. Mordecai looked nervously as Duncan while Courtney sat next to him.

"You're all dirty!" She observed as she started to wipe his cheek.

"Stop!" He cried out in embarrassment.

Bobby continued talking into the mic as the majority of the campers found their parents, "I'm sure you're all excited to see everybody now but we have a talent contest to start, so could the Bass and Gophers head backstage for set up and we can get this in motion."

While backstage Rosie was walking back and forth until she bumped into Liam.

"I can't go out there." Rosie admitted, "Please tell me you have something."

"You have to go out there," He reassured her, "If you don't you won't gain anything from it."

He reinstated her confidence just slightly but enough to get her to accept her performance.

Sophie and Junior were close by tuning their guitars.

"Are you nervous to go out there and sing?" Sophie smiled.

"Nah I think it'll be okay" Junior responded. Shortly after he heard a high-pitched twang from his guitar.

"Please tell me you didn't just break a string." Sophie muttered.

"Okay I won't tell you."

She sighed, "I have spare strings. Just don't go on until I get back." She left with his guitar and headed for the cabins.

On stage Bobby announced, "Our first performance of the night will be Junior and Sophie-"

"Wait not yet!" Junior interrupted from off stage.

"Oh-okay, so here's Rosie then."

Rosie shook her fist at Junior as she stumbled onto stage. She tried not to look at the crowd; she looked to her left and saw Liam watching from between the curtains. She placed a mat down, exhaled deeply and turned on her radio. The crowd watched her with great interest. Junior poked his head over by Liam to watch with him.

"That's crazy." He mouthed to Liam as they watched her. When her performance was finished, she received applause from the bleachers. As Rosie tried to catch her breath, her eyes met Heather, who wasn't clapping and seemed overall uninterested. As she headed backstage, she shoved Junior and Liam out of her way.

"Okay, so judging panel," Bobby explained, "I gave all of you a device once you got here that will let you choose between 1 and 10 how you want to rate each performance. All the numbers will be averaged at the end.

Juliette attempted to snatch Noah's device before he could vote.

"That better be a 10." she pouted as he held the device away from her.

CONFESSION

 **Rosie** : I should've never let Liam talk me into going on stage! If we lose tonight, he's dead!

END

"Okay," Bobby started, "I think I got all the votes in now. Let's move on to the Bass. First up we have Malik!"

Mavis sunk her face into her hands as Malik walked onto stage with a table and a stack of cups. The thought of Malik doing anything disturbed Cameron, who was sitting backstage but he wanted to see the horror unfold so he slipped back into the bleachers for the time being.

Malik turned on his music, set up a timer and proceeded to start his act. Malik was impressively quick in the sport. Mordecai looked back at Ike, as they were both confused with this strange unfound skill. Much to their expectation, near the end of his act, Malik knocked the table over spilling all of the cups onto the stage floor.

In a pathetic attempt to cheer him up of his mistake, Jacey immediately stood up to cheer for him, "Woo! Go Callum!"

"That's Malik!" Mordecai shouted at her causing the audience to explode in laughter. Malik quickly gathered his things and ran off.

Cameron leaned over to Ezekiel and whispered, "Give him a one it was trash."

CONFESSION

 **Ike** : I can't imagine a performance that would more perfectly capture Malik as that one. And poor Jacey is probably never going to live down calling him 'Callum'.

 **Mavis** : I thought the performance would be painful to watch but sometimes things just work out how they should.

END

Backstage, Sophie came back with Junior's guitar.

"Just like new!" She exclaimed as she handed him the guitar, "It's tuned too."

"Sweet."

"Next up," Bobby announced over the mic, "Hopefully, Junior and Sophie are ready."

As they walked up on-stage Addison stood up despite still being dizzy, and shouted, "Boo! Junior you suck!"

"Shut up Addison." Junior yelled into the microphone while Sophie set up chairs. Junior lowered the microphone and they started to play. Sophie played melody while Junior played rhythm and sang. Ivonne held her hand up to mouth and watched them play in awe. Cameron, who had yet to move backstage was pleasantly surprised by their performance.

CONFESSION

 **Ivonne** : Okay Junior went from like an 8 to a 10. Maybe a 12.

 **Cameron** : I mean… I never noticed it before but Sophie. She's attractive and she's musically talented. That checks all my boxes right there! Damn.

END

The audience applauded as Junior and Sophie finished and exited the stage. Cameron started to get up to head backstage when Mordecai grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Don't screw this up for us." He whispered to him.

"What do I look like? Malik?" Cameron laughed.

"Next from team Bass we have Cameron." Bobby announced.

Cameron walked on stage with four 5-gallon buckets and a pair of drumsticks. He sat on one of them and started tapping on the stage floor to get a feel of the sound it creates. He started spinning his drumsticks and began to play. Junior was particularly impressed with the result.

"Who thought drumming on a paint bucket would be cool?" He said to Sophie backstage.

CONFESSION

 **Cameron** : To my kid brother who always yelled at me for playing with the buckets in the backyard…. Take that! Just shows you what kind of stupid shit can get you on TV.

 **Mordecai** : Cameron's playing is impressive but hopefully it's enough to make up for Malik's idiotic mishap. Both of the Gopher's acts have been good, this might be a tight race.

END

Cameron finished playing and carried his buckets off stage. Rosie eyed him and looked over at Petunia.

"You better have this!" She shot as Petunia moved towards the stage.

"The last performance from the gophers… Petunia."

Petunia stumbled onto stage with an easel and the now empty canvas. She set up a timer and got her paints laid out on a table.

"Uh…" She hesitated, "I'm going to draw a face in one minute." She set up the timer and started painting on the canvas.

Juliette and Ivonne loudly cheered on for their friend from the bleachers.

"I'm sure she'll do a good job." Sophie comforted Rosie from backstage as they watched her through the curtains. After the minute passes she reveals her painting to be a strangely familiar face.

"Why would she paint Chris?!" Rosie complained, "They all hate him! And we just spent hours painting over his stupid face!"

Petunia walked backstage and Junior ran over to her.

"Hey if you sign the bottom can I keep it?" He offered, "I'll buy it from you."

She gladly gave him the painting and headed to the bleachers.

"You want a picture of Chris?" Sophie laughed.

"Not really," He explained, "I'm gonna hang it up in the cabin for now to bother the others and after I leave, I can give it to my mom or something."

"Last act for tonight," Bobby announced on stage, "please give a warm welcome to Nora."

Nora and Zarra walked out on stage. Zarra set up the boards for Nora and stepped away so she could begin her act.

Bobby started to shoo away everyone backstage so they would go to the bleachers. The majority of them compiled while Rosie and Liam hesitated to join the crowd. They watched Nora and applauded her after her performance. Bobby joined them on stage and shooed them away.

"Okay," Bobby ordered, "Make your final vote on the last act and we'll get the averages."

The kids nervously watched as their parents put in the final vote. After a minute or so of awkward silence Bobby continued.

"Wow, this was a close one," Bobby announced, "The gophers received a total score of 8.8 and the bass got… 9.1. Congratulations Bass. As for the gophers, someone's heading home tonight. Meet me by the campfire."

"You're a dead man Junior!' Addison pointed at his rival while he headed to the craft services tent with the others.

"Great." Junior sighed and looked down at the painting.

CONFESSION

 **Mordecai** : Maybe I've been underestimating my team a little bit. They haven't necessarily gained my full respect but maybe I should go a little easier on them.

END

Addison grabbed Landon's attention while he was leaving the washrooms.

"Landon," Addison pleaded, "I need your help voting off Mr. long tan and handsome."

"Junior's fine you're just jealous cause he got to play and you didn't." Landon laughed.

"He's a threat I promise. It'll be either him or you Landon- the quitter." Addison threatened him as he walked away.

Ivonne ran into Junior in the craft services tent, "Hey you did a really good job tonight."

Junior chuckled nervously, "Thanks. Sophie was really the one who put everything together though-"

"Ivonne, Junior," Rosie interrupted as she walked over to them, "I need you to vote with me tonight."

"Why should we trust you?" Junior questioned.

"Listen, you know Addison is plotting against you. He's not dumb enough to vote alone either. If you don't want to leave tonight, you'll vote with me."

CONFESSION

 **Junior** : I know that alliances don't work but she has a good point. I know Addison has it out for me for whatever reason. I just hope she's not pulling anything else.

END

"Gophers, sucks to be at the elimination ceremony again." Bobby teased while the 9 teens sat around the fire, "How'd you guys like seeing your folks on the island again?"

"Ugh please don't do that to us again." Rosie complained.

"They'll be back for the finale for sure. But I might find a way to squeeze them in again." Bobby clarified.

He held up 8 marshmallows, "If I call your name, come up and claim your fluffy treat, if you do not receive a marshmallow, you'll be heading out on the loser boat tonight. The first marshmallow goes to… Juliette."

She stood up as the other names followed.

"Petunia... Sophie... Ivonne... Addison… Rosie... Landon."

Junior and Liam looked at each other nervously.

"This is the final marshmallow of tonight. One of you will be safe, the other will be packing up for home tonight. As much as this hurts me to say the final marshmallow goes to … Junior."

Junior stood up to claim his marshmallow; he seemed more shocked than Liam was.

"Figures." Liam sighed.

"This can't be," Addison complained, "Sorry dude."

Liam pat his friend on the shoulder and headed out to dock. Rosie watched as the boat took him out of sight.

CONFESSION

 **Rosie** : I conquered my foe! The freak had it coming.

 **Junior** : Yeah voting off Liam hurt. But from how this show likes to work I'm sure he'll find a way back. Rosie's definitely got an eye for him. I'm sure she'll regret it.

 **Rosie** : I did not have a crush on him. Not that anyone thought I did or anything.

END

"Will Addison and Junior ever truce? Will Cameron find a way to get Malik off his back? How will the 16 remaining teens make it through the treacherous forest? Next time on Total… Drama… Island."


	7. The Sucky Outdoors

In the gopher boys' cabin, the three remaining boys start waking up knowing they have another challenge ahead of them.

"Good night sleep?" Junior asked sarcastically as he watched Addison crawl out of bed.

"No," Addison pouted, "Your stupid Chris picture needs to be destroyed! Or at least taken down."

"Petunia drew it though." Junior deflected, "I don't like the guy but I don't know it's a nice painting."

"Can you idiots please stop arguing," Landon groaned from his covers, "Next elimination one of the girls needs to go next so you two need to get along."

Junior and Addison didn't even realize there were only three guys left on the team. They were quickly being outnumbered by the 5 girls remaining.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Addison** : Now that Liam is gone, I'll have to make buddy-buddy with my nemesis AKA Junior. As much as I'd like to battle with him it's important to have a tall friend to stand behind in dangerous situations.
> 
> **Landon** : I don't know if they both irritate me or if they both humor me but I want to stay on good terms with them… for now. But it's impossible to be friendly with them if they're going to argue all the time.
> 
> END

Junior started digging around in the cabin when he realized something was missing.

"Okay Addison," he laughed, "where's my bag?"

"I didn't take your bag?" Addison stated, "What was in it?"

"Like... clothes and my toothbrush and swim trunks."

Landon chuckled "Think Ivonne took it?"

"Sorry dude." Addison added, "That things gone for good."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : I don't think Ivonne took it. Do I? Maybe the guys are just making me paranoid.
> 
> END

Everyone met with Bobby by the campfire.

"I hope you guys had a good night's sleep," Bobby started, "Cause for your challenge, you'll be spending the night in the woods."

"Do we get sleeping bags?" Jacey intervened.

"No… but Malik gets today's advantage."

Malik ran up to Bobby and held out his hands. Bobby handed him a box.

"Radios?" He asked.

"Yeah, they're walkie-talkies," Bobby clarified, "Don't get lost."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : I never thought I'd be thankful that Sara was gone. If she was here, we'd lose her in the first 10 minutes.
> 
> END

"I also have a gift for the gopher team." Bobby announced. Rosie pushed her way through everyone to claim the gift. She held out her hands and Bobby handed her a spray bottle full of an unknown mixture.

"That should help with the bears." Bobby laughed, "Have fun out there!"

As the gopher team made their way into the woods, the bass stayed by campfire for a moment.

"If we camp really close to the exit, we'll get here first." Mordecai offered.

"You know there's a site in the woods for us, right?" Zarra reminded him.

"Site or no site, you think Bobby would disqualify us for not going far enough." Mordecai dared.

"I wanna see the campsite." Cameron added. Ike looked at Zarra then back at Mordecai to calm him down. He sighed and the bass team made their way into the woods.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : If we end up getting lost, I know who to drown in quicksand. It'll all work out.
> 
> **Zarra** : Mordecai probably wants us to get disqualified so he can pick off me, Jacey and Nora. I don't trust that guy.
> 
> END

As the gopher team walked in the heavy woods Junior bent down to talk with Ivonne.

"He-hey," He stuttered, "Have you uh… seen my bag anywhere?"

"No," She replied, "Do you need help finding it?"

Junior hesitated, "No-no. It's just… the other guys told me you might've taken it. So, if you did take it, I'm going to need it back." Ivonne scoffed and walked away from him.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Ivonne** : I can't believe him! If I was going to take his stuff, I would've at least asked. He probably misplaced it.
> 
> **Junior** : Maybe I am an asshole. Maybe I should take Addison's word more often. I never really thought Ivonne would do that but … who would've taken my stuff then? I've never had any enemies before, except Addison.
> 
> END

Once the Bass reached the campsite and put down their bags, Mordecai started taking orders.

"Malik, Nora, Jacey go find firewood," He instructed, "Ike, Mavis, you guys pitch the tent. Cam and I are going fishing."

As the others were compliant, Cameron hesitated, "Can't we hunt for something that isn't alive?"

Mordecai laughed, "That takes away half the fun of it! Plus look at you, you need protein. Let's go." Cameron followed Mordecai into a different part of the woods until they reached the water. Mordecai started to take his shoes off and roll up his pants. Cameron watched him with concern.

"Why are you so scared?" Mordecai asked, "Are you a vegetarian?"

"Ovo but yeah." He clarified, "I don't eat dairy either… except eggs. Eggs are fine."

"Well," Mordecai responded as he got in the water, "You can't really pick and choose in the forest."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : I literally live in a forest! Mordecai is the most entitled person I've ever met. If Malik wasn't already at the top of my shitlist, I'm sure Mordecai would get eliminated soon.
> 
> END

The gophers found their campsite and started to set up.

"We should buddy up." Rosie suggested, "Me and Sophie will gather sticks. Juliette and Ivonne can set up camp, Landon and Addison can find food…. Junior just watch Petunia."

"Great." Junior sighed as Rosie tossed him the spray. The team split up with two of the groups heading into the woods away from the campsite. Rosie and Sophie started to pick up the sticks.

"Thanks for picking me to be your buddy." Sophie smiled, "I wasn't even sure if you liked me or not to be honest."

"Sure," Rosie replied, "Look at the others, they're either unstable or don't care about the game."

Sophie laughed and continued to pick up sticks.

When they got back to the campsite Rosie noticed an un-set up tent and no fireplace ready.

"What have the four of you been doing?" She shouted.

"Juliette lost the instructions." Ivonne explained as she pointed at Juliette.

"They weren't in the bag." She pouted.

"And I can't help," Petunia exclaimed, "I'm trying to French braid Junior's hair!"

Rosie buried her face in her hands and Sophie burst out laughing.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : Maybe an alliance with Sophie wouldn't be a bad idea.
> 
> END

The Bass team had all gathered around their fully set up campsite. They all sat in a circle around the campfire in an awkward silence.

Jacey broke the silence by loudly leaning over to whispering to Mavis, "What's the pasty kids name again?"

"Ha you mean Cameron!" Mordecai yelled across the fire as Cameron crossed his arms.

"We should tell stories," Ike suggested, "I think it's weird how we all know each other's parents but we don't really know each other that well."

Malik grabbed Mavis by the shoulder, "Not me, I've known Mavis forever!"

"Buzz off." Mavis shot as she pushed him away.

"I've met a lot of you before," Zarra admitted, "I was really young but since I'm the oldest one here I've been to a lot of events with other contestants."

"Oh yeah," Mordecai provoked, "you probably got it in good with some of the Gopher kids, right?"

"I don't remember. They probably don't remember seeing me since they were so little at the time."

At the gopher camp the 8 contestants sat around the fire in a similar fashion. Addison was cooking the food as he started to strike up a conversation.

"Once this competition is over, I'm gonna ask out Zarra." Addison gushed.

Sophie laughed, "You think she'll go out with you?"

"Listen," Addison explained, "when I was like five months old, my mom took a picture of the two of us at your parents wedding, and that's the same picture we're going to have on display at our wedding someday."

Petunia and Juliette awed while Rosie rolled her eyes, "Why were you at that wedding anyway?"

"All the Drama Brothers were there." He explained, "The other two came stag and got really smashed. That was also the day I got their glasses… or maybe that was at the other wedding."

Landon added, "No party like a Drama Brothers party."

"Well there were two. But we don't talk about the other one. No one got drunk and Junior was there being an attention hog. I think Zarra was there too actually."

"Was that the last time you remember being taller than me?" Junior teased, "I was what... 11 weeks old and you were like 9-10 months."

"You know what… I didn't think of that. I guess I was superior then."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Juliette** : It's nice that the others have good memories of each other and their families… I guess I haven't been around long enough to really have any memories like that.
> 
> **Landon** : I know it doesn't really bother me but Aiden's always been wanting to find out more about some life we missed out on…. Maybe Junior and Addison could help me with that. Since my brother's gone, I could give him that at the very least.
> 
> END

At the bass camp, Mordecai stood up from his chair.

"Ike," He ordered, "Come with me. I need to take a whiz and I'm not heading alone in the woods."

Ike followed him a way out until they reached a safe distance from the campsite. Much to Ike's surprise, Mordecai revealed a bag he was hiding from the others.

"What's in it?" Ike asked nervously.

"More like whose is it?" Mordecai asserted, "It's Junior's. I took it from his cabin. You wouldn't believe how heavy those idiots sleep." He started digging into the bag and Ike watched with caution and concern.

"You took his bag? Why?"

"I just want to find his button. No button, no advantage, no advantage, the others will boot him." Mordecai dumped out the clothes and sifted through them.

"Damn." Mordecai muttered, "Well we tried. I guess all we can do is ditch the bag."

"What?" Ike worried, "We can't just leave his bag in the woods!" Mordecai put all the clothes back into the bag and tossed it deeper into the woods before running back to camp.

"That took longer than expected." Zarra commented as they returned to the site.

"It's none of your business," Mordecai snarked, "Maybe we both had to go!"

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Zarra** : Something's not right with that boy. He's up to something.
> 
> **Cameron** : I hope bratty Mordecai isn't setting a rule that we all have to go with a bathroom buddy. If I have to take Malik with me, I'll scream.
> 
> END

At the gopher campsite, Petunia left the circle to the edge of the site. She was holding the spray and decided to shoot a small amount into the air.

"Oh, that smells awful." She cringed causing the others to wander over.

"It's supposed to keep away bears?" Ivonne asked, taking the bottle.

Sophie grabbed it and joked, "We should dump it on Junior head! He can be the beacon."

Junior raised his eyebrows, "Uh… It probably has bleach in it so maybe don't do that."

"I second the idea!" Addison added.

Amidst the argument Rosie snatched the spray from the rest of the team, "None of you are going to spray it! If we need it, I'll hold onto it." The others dispersed and started to set up for the night until a giant thud in the woods. They all ran into their tent to hide.

"Do you guys think it's a bear?" Sophie asked quietly.

"Someone should go out and check." Juliette whispered.

"Junior's probably the same height as the bear," Landon offered, "Plus if the bear eats him it'll be full faster." The other's pushed Junior out of the tent back into the darkness.

"Ya'll are some team." Junior commented before heading into the woods. He trembled as he held up the spray and looked for the cause of the noise. What he found turned out to be more of a relief than he had planned. He ran back into the tent with what he found.

"It's my bag," he exclaimed, "who would've brought it out into the woods?"

"Maybe the bass are pulling pranks on us." Sophie suggested.

"Or maybe they're just mad that we get three advantages in a row and they don't." Rosie corrected.

"We won't get all three advantages with Liam gone." Landon reminded her. She blanked at the observation.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : Okay… so maybe I let my guard down a little bit. Besides we won't even need Liam's stupid advantage anyway… right?
> 
> END

"That doesn't matter." Rosie reassured, "Junior you still have your button, right?" Junior nodded and the team dropped the discussion. As the night pressed on the teams started to drift off into sleep. The Bass and Gopher campsites were quiet. Landon and Junior slept peacefully until the two of them were abruptly awoken by their friend.

"You guys ready?" Addison whispered to them as he led them out of the tent.

"What are you talking about?" Landon yawned.

"It's time for revenge! No one messes with Junior but me; time to teach the Bass a lesson." Addison revealed the bear spray and Junior laughed at the implication. The three of them wandered into the woods that night until they reached the bass site. It was quiet and the fire was still smoking.

"You have a plan, right?" Junior whispered as Addison walked over to the tent. The other two watched in concern as their teammate stuck his hand into the tent. He unscrewed the bottle and dumped the concoction into the enemy tent.

"You're crazy." Landon whispered to him as he walked back over to them as they left the site and went back into the woods.

As the sun started to rise the bass team slowly started to wake up and notice the terrible smell coming from their tent.

"Ugh… my head." Nora groaned as she sat up.

"Why does it smell like chemicals in here?" Zarra complained as she stepped out of the tent. Cameron noticed the wet spot next to where he laid her head.

"Smells kinda like bleach." Cameron observed, "Could be the gophers pranking us. Bobby gave them chemicals." The entire team was left terribly dizzy. Zarra helped the others out of the tent and Mordecai immediately started grabbing their things.

"I know we all don't feel great but we need to head back to the cabins!" Mordecai encouraged them. They all reluctantly followed him back to the campsite. Once they made their way back to Bobby, the gophers were already there.

"You guys beat us?" Mordecai shouted.

"Yep," Bobby intervened, "Which means the gophers are today's big winners. Get ready to vote someone out today Bass."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : Zarra thinks I'm going home tonight…. Please. Ike will help me vote off Nora. Malik and Mavis are easy to persuade. Easy-peasy.
> 
> END

At the campfire, the 8 remaining bass watch as Bobby presents the 7 marshmallows to them.

"Third time back eh Bass? Only 7 of you will stay on camp tonight. If I call your name come claim your marshmallow. The first marshmallow goes to… Ike" He collects his safety as the others follow:

"Mavis… Cameron… Malik…. Zarra… Jacey"

Nora and Mordecai stare up at the host and the single treat left on the silver platter.

"And the final marshmallow goes to… Mordecai."

Nora sighed as she watched Mordecai grab the marshmallow.

"Sorry girl." Cameron frowned as she stood up.

"Thanks for everything you guys. Really it was fun." She made her way over to the dock and the team watched as she left on the boat.

> CONFESSIONAL
> 
> **Zarra** : Mordecai is definitely upset that Jacey and I get single advantages. I think that dude needs to worry more about the other team rather than us. I hope I make it to the final two with him; I'd love to see him lose. Maybe make him cry.
> 
> END

"What will come of these crazy teams? Will they be able to conquer some of their deepest fears? Find out next time on Total Drama Island."


	8. Phobia Factor

After the campfire ceremony was over, the 7 remaining Bass stayed by the campfire for a moment. They sat in an awkward silence until the Gopher team came by to visit.

"Oh, looky here," Mordecai mocked, "Here to rub your victory in our faces?"

"We just wanted to sit with you guys for a bit." Petunia mumbled as they started to fill in the empty spaces around the campfire.

"What, is this the part where we just spill our deepest fears to each other," Zarra deadpanned, "Just play along with Chris' stupid game."

Landon added, "There's no point because Bobby has all our folks on speed dial anyway. He'll get that information easily."

"Let's confess to something else then!" Sophie suggested, "We all kinda know each other from our parents, right? I'm sure we all have some nasty stories."

"I'll confess!" Jacey interrupted, "I got banned from a Rexall. I stole a lot of lip-gloss." The mood around the campfire lightened as they started to laugh together.

"I got you beat," Rosie chuckled, "I had my phone taken away when I was like 9 so I cut up a bunch of clothes in my parents' closet. I didn't get that phone back for another 2 years."

Junior pointed at his rival from the other side of the circle, "Addison's an expert at getting in trouble."

He huffed, "Yeah, I'm sure you were a saint!"

Junior shook his head, "Nah, I have you all beat. I found a stash of medical ID tags when I was like 7 and I'd wear them to school. One day I fell asleep in class and the teacher thought it was a medical emergency. I ended up in the ER and then I got suspended after they found out what happened."

"How does a school even fall for something like that?" Ivonne questioned, "I couldn't even fake a cough without them being suspicious."

"I mean… They probably had his name on them anyway. There wouldn't have been a way for the school to know." her brother responded.

Addison laughed, "That's kinda genius. I think the most annoying thing I did was I'd hide egg timers around the house and make them all go off at once. There are probably 50 or 60 smashed timers buried in the backyard. I don't know if that can beat a field trip to the hospital though."

Zarra smiled and looked at her younger sister, "Sophie used to put stickers on the walls."

Sophie laughed, "Getting in trouble for that was probably the scariest moment of my life!"

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Sophie** : I really hope Zarra warms up to me a little more. It feels good to be able to sit with her in a big group.
> 
> **Juliette** : I gotta say… sitting in a group where we're all talking about our childhoods doesn't feel great. I've only really been in Canada for maybe 20 months so it's hard to fit in with the others.
> 
> END

As another couple days pass another challenge day arrives. The two teams are all sitting in the dining area when Bobby walks in to announce today's challenge.

"Greetings campers," He announced, "As you know today is phobia factor day. I feel kinda bad for you kids, your parents are pretty brutal. I hop-"

"Ahem," Rosie interrupted, "What's the advantage?"

Mordecai stood up, "Um… no. This is our advantage, sweetheart."

"Will ya let me finish?" Bobby continued, "So fears put us in our most embarrassing vulnerable state, right? So, my team and I decided to make it more embarrassing by letting your parents watch you guys squirm today."

"You're joking right?" Zarra quipped.

"They had so much fun last time, I invited them back. Now as for the advantage… only Ike will be getting the advantage today. Ike you don't have to participate and the Bass team will start with one point."

Rosie shouted, "That's completely unfair!"

"Well we are short one player." Cameron added.

"Right…" Bobby finished his spiel, "Finish up breaky and meet me in the theater."

As he left the teams started to chatter amongst themselves.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : Ivonne could have had some use today. If I knew we weren't going to get an advantage from her she'd probably be gone. All she's been doing since she's gotten here is throwing Junior off his game.
> 
> END

As the teams headed to the theater, they noticed Bobby standing on stage next to a collapsible gate.

He began to explain the day as the teams filled the bleachers, "Today we're going to start small and work our way up to the more fun stuff. Now as you all know; you'll see some original campers today. They'll mostly stick around where they're needed."

Rosie interrupted, "Why exactly are they here? Do they have any purpose other than to bother us?"

"Good question," Bobby answered, "Unlike last time, they will not be playing a part. So… yes. They are here just to 'bother' you. Well without further ado… welcome back to camp some of the original campers." All the contestants stared at the crowd of familiar faces as they filled in the bleachers.

"I'm sure we all can skip the introductions," Bobby proceeded, "We're going to start with two campers who share a very similar fear. Mavis… Landon… come up on stage if you could please." Addison jokingly nudged Landon as he followed Mavis onto the stage.

"Now what?" Mavis complained while waiting on stage.

"I hope the two of you are ready to gain some responsibility today." Bobby goaded, "For your challenge you'll have to watch over these five 3-year-olds for the rest of the day." He walked backstage and unleashed the stampede of unhinged toddlers onto the stage. Mavis and Landon stood shocked on the stage.

"Landon you're scared of babies?" Addison teased from the bleachers.

He yelled back, "No! Just being in charge of them."

Katie and Sadie cheered from the bleaches, "You can do it Mavis!" She glanced over at them and rolled her eyes.

Junior looked over at Addison, "I think babysitting is kinda fun."

"Oh well you're not going to think the next challenge is fun," Bobby intervened, "You're up."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Addison** : I'm so excited to watch Junior cower in fear. This is truly my moment of revenge. I hope I get to push him into something. Sure, we're still cool… but I get my moments.
> 
> **Landon** : I've been feeling kinda safe because of the fact that Bobby can call our parents and my dad knows nothing about me. But now I'm getting the suspicion that he's been either in contact with Aiden or my mother. Either way one of them is gonna pay after this.
> 
> END

While some of the constants stayed at the theatre, a handful of Gophers, with the accompaniment of their parents, followed Bobby to the edge of camp where there was some sort of trailer parked.

"You're scared of mobile homes?" Petunia teased as they walked towards the camper.

"I guess." Junior responded, "I honestly have no idea what it's for."

As they reached the trailer's location Bobby started to explain, "Big-mouth, for your challenge all you have to do is spend 30 minutes alone inside this trailer."

Junior laughed in concern and looked over at Cody, "I'm so confused! What's going to happen to me if I get in that trailer?"

Bobby intervened, "Ah but this isn't an ordinary trailer. This is a 3500 front command Scotty fire safety house."

"A-what?"

"Oh yeah," Ivonne remembered, "They fill up with smoke and get all warm. We used to have to crawl through them in school." Junior laughed and put his head in his hands.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : I felt like someone was going to light me on fire this season… I just didn't expect it to be my own father.
> 
> END

Bobby flipped a switch on the outside of the trailer and started giving out instructions, "Cody's gonna stay here with a timer, the rest of you can follow me to the beach."

Addison perked up, "Can I stay and watch?"

"Sorry dude, we don't have time." Bobby explained as Addison sighed and followed the group.

At the beach, the crowd of contestants gathered around a heavily broken-down car wedged in the sand.

"You're kidding?" Mordecai fretted.

"Mordecai for your challenge you'll have to get this car working again and out of the sand."

"How is that even scary?" Zarra complained.

Bobby chuckled, "Don't worry. We'll make you feel a little more stranded because for your challenge you'll stay tethered to the car… unless you chicken out of course. But then you'll have to try to get the key from Courtney." He locked the tether around Mordecai's ankle and the other end to the car before handing him a toolbox. "Good luck!"

"Aww, is little Mordecai scared of getting stuck on the freeway?" Malik teased as he watched him dig through the toolbox. Mordecai glared at him and tugged on the tether at Malik, who hurried away.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : Malik is lucky my mom was standing right there. He'll get his.
> 
> END

At the top of a large ladder stood Ivonne. She was wearing a helmet and holding onto a cardboard box.

"Just one quick ride down the slope to get the point"

Petunia shouted as Ivonne started trembling, "Come on Ivonne! You got this!"

"I don't know if I can do it..." Ivonne fretted and she looked down at the steep slope. As she started to turn around to come back down the ladder, she lost her balance and tumbled backwards down the hill and landed in the dirt at the bottom. The crowd gasped and Tyler ran over to her aid.

"Ivonne... are you okay?" He asked as her blurred vision straightened out.

"Good going Ivonne," Rosie nagged, "you lost us a point."

"At least tell me Junior was watching…"

Juliette chuckled, "Sorry he's still in the smokehouse. Hopefully he's doing better than we are."

Back in the trailer, Junior sat alone in the processed smoke, letting out a cough every so often.

"This is miserable," he mumbled to himself, "I know it's not a real fire so it's not even scary." He let out a large puff of smoke as he opened the window to the trailer and saw Cody sitting in the grass.

"Please tell me it's been 30 minutes."

He looked down at the timer, "It's been… about 5 minutes." Junior screamed in frustration and shut the window.

Back at camp, the Bass team made their way back to the beach. Mordecai was able to see them in the distance.

"Alright Jacey," Bobby explained, "All you have to do is go in the cage and pet an owl."

She laughed awkwardly, "Ohh that's what those big birds are called." She trembled as she got into the cage with the owl. She put on the glove and reached out to let the owl land on her. As it did, she screamed loudly and startled it.

"Come on Jacey! You got this!" Cameron encouraged her as she made a second attempt. As the owl landed on her she flinched, but was able to pet the large bird.

Bobby announced, "The Bass have two points on the board!" Mordecai audibly sighed in annoyance as his team headed away from the beach without him.

"You better hurry up or your team's going to forget about you." Courtney provoked as she sat inside the car.

"You try digging a car out of the sand!" Mordecai complained.

She scoffed, "I don't have to."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : Well I definitely learned something from this, if I do ever get stranded in my car, I know who not to get stranded with. Also… Jacey. I can't wait for a reason to eliminate her. If she keeps winning challenges, I won't be able to get my team to agree.
> 
> **Jacey** : When I got to touch the big bird… it was so thrilling. Also, it was kinda nice to see Mordecai squirm in the dirt for a minute.
> 
> END

Back at the trailer, Junior abruptly kicked open the door and collapsed in the grass with a coughing fit.

"That HAD to be 30 minutes..."

Cody looked at the timer, "You did 13 minutes. Sorry."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : I feel like I would've died if I went any longer. So, thanks to the producers for that. Also… I'm not sharing secrets with anyone for a while.
> 
> END

Bobby brought the Gophers over to the theater where Mavis and Landon were watching the toddlers. Ivonne tugged on Petunia's shoulder as they noticed Junior rejoin their group.

"How's it going Landon?" Petunia gibed as the team reached the theatre area.

"Why are kids such gremlins? This is awful." Landon complained as he looked over at Mavis who was laying down, "You're not even helping anymore!"

"I'm just taking 5…" She mumbled as she closed her eyes and started to drift off.

"Well I guess Mavis is out." Bobby started, "Anyway, Juliette is next… I'm sure she knows why we are over here." He grabbed a plastic doll from the stage and revealed it to the Gophers.

"You're scared of barbies?" Ivonne chuckled as she looked at her worrying friend.

"I- I just don't like kids' toys. They're all rubbery and dirt covered and they have this… smell to them."

Bobby continued, "All you have to do is kiss it."

Rosie rolled her eyes, "Oh come on Jules that's so easy. Junior had to sit in an easy bake oven for 30 minutes, you only have to kiss it once. It'll only take a second!"

Juliette frowned as Bobby handed her the doll, "This was probably in some kid's mouth!"

"Just pretend it's something else!" Petunia encouraged her from the back of the group. Juliette grimaced as she quickly kissed the doll before throwing it back onto the stage.

"The Gophers have their first point on the board!" Bobby announced as the team started to follow him to the next location.

Rosie ran over to Junior, "You didn't even complete your challenge?"

"Uhh…"

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : Junior is about as useless as Ivonne at this point. Looking back, it all makes sense. Failure is kinda in his blood.
> 
> END

Back at the beach, Mordecai took a deep breath before trying to start the car. After hours the engine kicked on and he laughed in relief.

"Ha! I did it!" He exclaimed, "Give me the key."

As he tried to snatched the key from Courtney, she held it away from him, "He said you had to get the car out of the sand first. We're still in the sand!"

Mordecai rolled his eyes and very slowly drove the car into the grass.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : Bobby's gonna pay for this. Maybe I'll start calling him Aubrey too.
> 
> END

The Gophers met with Bobby where he had a chair set up on a pedestal.

"Addison, if you don't mind sitting down." Bobby suggested.

Addison complied and he started to wonder out loud, "What is Junior going to sit on me?"

"That sounds right." Junior responded jokingly.

Bobby interrupted, "How about we stick to the bees instead?" He revealed a jar full of bees before starting to cover Addison with honey.

"Bee stings can become toxic in large quantities though," Juliette cautioned, "He could get really sick or his heart will just stop beating."

"A blessing in disguise," Rosie said sarcastically.

Addison yelled at them from the chair, "That's not helping!" His team laughed as they watched him tense up at the sight of Bobby unscrewing the container of bees.

Junior shouted jokingly from the audience, "If your heart stops beating let me know I'll suck out the poison."

"You stay the hell away from me!"

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Addison** : It's so unfair that Junior gets to fail his challenge and watch me face my fear when I could've stayed over there and watched him! Maybe later I'll get to lock him back in the smokehouse.
> 
> END

As the Gophers watched Addison get surrounded by the buzzing insects, Juliette noticed a shoddy plane fly overhead.

"Whose challenge was that?" Juliette wondered as she looked over and noticed an 'X' painted in the grass some distance away.

Out on the beach the Bass team watched over as the plane made circles around the island. Ike looked over his shoulder and noticed Mordecai running up to them.

"Who's next?" Mordecai asked him as he looked up at the plane. Ike stayed silent as the motor of the plane became increasingly louder as it landed next to the team. The hatch opened slowly Zarra made her way out of the plane.

"No dice?" Malik asked.

"Yeah, like I'm jumping out of that deathtrap, with one of Chris' shoddy parachutes." Zarra rolled her eyes.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : I am SO sick of Zarra acting like she doesn't care. I seriously could do without that. I've already got to deal with the insufferable behavior from Malik, Jacey's ditziness and Mavis half-assing through every challenge. Why'd I have to be the one stuck on the annoying team?
> 
> **Zarra** : I don't think me not jumping from a plane is going to hold us back any. I mean… I wasn't the only one that saw Ivonne take that dive. Also, there's only 15 people left. Merge will come early and I won't have to deal with Mordecai anymore.
> 
> END

The Gophers watched Addison as he grimaced from all the bees surrounding him.

"Addison gives the Gophers their second point." Bobby announced while the team started to cheer.

"Wow Addie, you're finally good for something." Rosie mocked as he got out of the chair.

Bobby instructed, "Gophers you have three challenges left to complete. Petunia, Sophie, I'm sure you'll both enjoy this next one." They both poked their heads nervously past the crowd and saw their parents carrying pet cages.

"You both will have to spend three minutes with these animals." Bobby continued as he grabbed one of the cages, "Petunia, this little one's for you." She yelped as a small dog jumped out of the cage and ran over to her leg.

"So- there's a…" Sophie hesitated as she looked into the other cage to see a pair of cats staring back at her. She looked over at Petunia who froze up as the dog licked her leg.

"I'm not touching a cat," Sophie fretted as she backed away and latched onto Trent, "I won't do it."

"Sophie you have to if we're going to win!" Rosie ordered.

Junior looked over at Ivonne, "Aww I have a cat at home; I think they're cute."

"Oh, shut it!" Sophie snapped. Petunia continued to let the dog bark and lick her until she gathered the courage to kneel beside it.

"Hey little fella. You're supposed to be cute right." She chuckled nervously as she reached over and pet the dog.

As the timer went off, Bobby made his announcement, "Petunia gets one, Sophie... Zip. Meet me at the beach Gophers. Also, Rosie you might want to put on a swimsuit." Rosie gulped as Bobby walked away from the group.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Petunia** : I feel like being on this show, I've gotten to know the other girls quite a bit. I can say confidently that I can't imagine Rosie being scared of anything.
> 
> END

The Bass team watched with concern as Malik laid shirtless on a table bed. Bobby approached them carrying a small duffle bag.

"I have been extremely deserving of a massage," Malik joked as he kept his head facing the grass.

"We're doomed." Mordecai sighed in annoyance.

"Sure," Bobby reached in his bag and held up a thin needle, "Malik for your challenge you'll have to sit through 30 rounds of acupuncture." Malik turned up to look at the host and shook his head nervously.

"Poke him wear it hurts, Bobby!" Cameron encouraged Bobby from the crowd as he looked carefully at the needle.

He wondered, "Ya know, I think you're supposed to go through training or something… ah well." Malik grimaced as the host approached him with the needle. His body rejected his fate and he swatted the needle away.

"I'm not letting you take over my body with your witchcraft!" Malik whined as he stepped off the table.

"What, we have three points?" Mordecai complained, "We're through."

"Oh, zip it!" Zarra argued, "We're still doing okay. Cam still needs to go anyway."

"Whatever." Mordecai rolled his eyes.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Zarra** : Being around a bunch of 16-year olds is honestly exhausting. Mordecai is probably the worst of them. I blame genetics on this one.
> 
> END

Rosie and the Gophers stood at the edge of the beach waiting for Bobby when Addison made a reappearance in the group.

"Addison, you didn't have to put on a swimsuit too." Juliette chuckled as he walked over.

"What, I can't swim?" He deflected.

"Just don't bother me when I have to go in!" Rosie snapped.

"If you go in." Heather ribbed, causing Rosie to fret.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : Listen, I don't care if Bobby ties to a boulder to my leg and lets me drown. I'm completing this challenge. I kinda have to.
> 
> END

"Okay Gophers, if you can get this point, you'll be up for four against the Bass." Bobby mentioned as he walked over.

"What about Landon?" Ivonne reminded him.

"We'll check with Landon later," Bobby explained, "Rosie, for your challenge all you have to do is keep your head underwater for one minute." She hesitated as she looked around at her team before getting into the water to prepare.

"Rosie, we can make it a contest!" Addison suggested jokingly.

"Don't distract me!" Rosie yelled back. She nervously looked down into the foggy lake, then up at her team before completely submerging into the water.

The group watched in silence until Addison spoke up, "She knows I'd win."

"You can't go 5 minutes without saying something annoying, can't you?" Junior joked.

"Guys, come on." Petunia interrupted to silence them. In a short moment, Bobby's timer went off breaking the silence again. Rosie ascended out of the water and her team cheered for her.

"The Gophers get their fourth point of the day!" Bobby announced, "Meet me by the theatre for the final challenge of the day."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Sophie** : It's great that Rosie was able to conquer her fear. I hope she still sees me as a reliable teammate. She did tell me I was her favorite, but if I keep letting the team down, she'll probably stop being so nice to me.
> 
> END

As the sun started to set on the day, the two teams and their parents filled the bleachers at the theatre. Landon watched from the stage as they started to sit facing him.

"Was I supposed to put on a show with the kids too?" Landon complained.

Bobby walked up onto the stage and set his hand on his shoulder, "Landon you are relieved of duty. And the Gophers end the day with 5 points."

"So, we win, right? Final score is 5 to 3 yeah." Junior pointed out.

"If Cameron is able to complete his challenge, I'll give the Bass tonight's victory." Bobby announced.

"That is not fair." Rosie complained as the Bass cheered for the gesture.

Bobby ignored the complaints and set up a microphone among the toys and food stains that still covered the stage, "Cameron, I'm sure you've been dying to come on stage and say your piece." Cameron's jaw dropped as he sat frozen in the bleachers.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : If Bobby's planning on having me out myself in front of 33 idiots... I'm speechless. Camp's been casual until now. And I'm not dumb either, I know Mordecai and Malik are going to give me a hell of a time for being trans, but that's just how dumb teens are. And if I don't go through with it, I'll be eliminated… damned if I do damned if I don't, I suppose.
> 
> END

"You're a son of a bitch Bobby." Cameron yelled from the bleachers as he slowly started to get up.

"I haven't even told you what you have to do yet."

Mordecai interrupted, "Just do it Cameron it's not a big deal." Cameron looked back at him nervously. He padded his way up the theatre steps and stood awkwardly next to the host.

"Are you sticking through?" Bobby asked him quietly away from the mic.

"... maybe"

The host then turned back to the mic and announced, "For the final challenge of the night, Cameron here has prepared a one-minute speech for you all that I'm going to give him about three seconds to think of."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : I can't tell if this was set up or not. While, yes, I am afraid of public speaking I am relieved that I don't have to out myself. The bad part of this is… I have to improvise a speech and now the only thing on my mind is… that. Credit where credit's due… they got me.
> 
> END

Cameron stepped in front of the mic and hesitated before clearing his throat. He stared into the audience and felt unease by the silence as they awaited his monologue.

He started, "Uh… so I didn't really have anything prepared since I found out about this just now. I'm just going to tell you guys about my time at camp so far. First of all, Malik you kinda remind me of my little brother but that's not a compliment because I don't like him."

"Rude." Malik mumbled to himself as Mavis chuckled beside him.

"I never watched the show before, mostly because I hate going on the internet, so I don't really know what to expect. I thought everyone would be kinda chill and that it'd be fun but… I've just been getting bad vibes the whole time. And after Sara left, I've just been feeling… out of place. I think-"

"And- that's time." Bobby interrupted, "And the Bass are the winners for tonight. For your reward, you'll get to stay here at the theatre with your parents as the Gopher team cleans the stage"

The Bass team cheered as the Gophers groaned in disappointment.

"Well I hope Junior or Ivonne don't get sea sick easily." Rosie mocked threateningly as Ivonne latched onto Junior in fear.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that," Bobby announced, "There will be no elimination tonight, as there were only 20 of you when we started."

The Gophers shifted into a small celebration as Zarra looked at them worryingly.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Zarra** : I thought Bobby or the producers would just cut two challenges out. I want to merge as soon as possible!
> 
> **Junior** : Bobby kinda saved my bacon. Maybe he doesn't hold a grudge anymore. Then again, he still calls me Big-Mouth so I could be overthinking it.
> 
> **Mordecai** : Cameron proved himself to be a good person to have in an alliance. If he knows absolutely nothing about this game, then he isn't too familiar with the rules and tricks. I'm sure he wouldn't think too much of it either… unless he actually can read people.
> 
> **Cameron** : I'm still extremely relieved. I honestly thought it would go a lot worse. I hope I'm able to get along better with the others still.
> 
> END

"Will the teams be able to handle what comes next time? Stay tuned to Total Drama Island."


	9. Aftermath I

** Welcome to the Aftermath!!  **

Note that this won’t be like the show’s aftermath but more so like an info page just for extra background info/Q&A. The idea was requested by a reader but if it isn’t preferred, I won’t do it again. If you all like this I’d probably do one after 5-6 eliminations. Nothing answered will be considered a spoiler. None of this information will be super important to remember just to use as a quick deep dive into the lore, I guess.

** Fast 5: **

So far, we’ve seen 5 contestants leave the competition. For the fast 5 we’re going to have 5 fun facts about each of the five. Consider this to be similar to the trivia section on the wikia.

**Aiden:**

  * > Aiden and Landon are known to be the only twins in the cast with Aiden being about 20 minutes older than Landon. This makes them the closest in age sibling duo whereas Zarra and Sophie would be the farthest apart in age.

  * > While they are the only twins in the cast, they are not the only twins in the gen 1 family as Petunia has younger twin brothers.

  * > Aiden is the first first-boot in TD history to wear glasses. Additionally, Aiden is the only male in the cast that wears them.

  * > Aiden is half Chinese making him multiracial. Other multiracial contestants would be Landon, Addison, Junior, Rosie, Mordecai and Liam. However, Landon, Rosie and Mordecai are the only ones also from some sort of Asian descent.

  * > Unlike the previous season, the contestant eliminated after the first challenge was wearing a chicken hat for not jumping.




**Callum:**

  * > Callum was raised solely by DJ and his biological mother was a surrogate. Making him Malik and Juliette the only contestants to have one parent.

  * > Callum was born in Jamaica making him one of 5 to not be born in Canada. The others being Jacey, Ike, Juliette and Rosie.

  * > Callum is the only contestant to be fully Black-Canadian/Caribbean Canadian however Addison and Junior are also partially Black-Canadian.

  * > While Callum’s favorite movie genre is horror, 2 of the 3 times DJ was eliminated the theme of the challenge was horror.

  * > While DJ is the tallest gen 1 contestant, Callum is out measured by both Liam and Junior, coincidentally these are the kids of the shortest male and female of gen 1.




**Sara:**

  * > Sara is the middle child in her family but while she is only one year younger than Cameron, she is 5 years older than her little brother.

  * > Sara is the lowest ranking contestant to outrank their parent’s Island rank. And the only eliminated contestant so far that has made it farther than their parent. Additionally, her placement (18th) would match Ezekiel’s World Tour rank.

  * > Sara is fluent in French. The only other contestant that speaks French is Sophie.

  * > Sara is one of 4 contestants not to be the oldest child in the family, the others being Landon, Sophie and Ivonne.

  * > Sara is one of three contestants to have dyed hair. The others being Zarra and Sophie. Additionally, Sara is the second contestant ever to have green hair, the first being Duncan.




**Liam:**

  * > Liam is the only contestant that lives in the United States but the only contestant born in the states is Ike.

  * > Although not as seriously as Petunia, Liam also likes to draw and make digital art in hopes to become a tattoo artist.

  * > Liam is one of 3 kids to be the only child of one parent but not the other. The others being Zarra and Malik. However, Malik is not in contact with that parent while the other two are.

  * > Liam is the first eliminated contestant whose parent took part in a finale.

  * > Liam is one of four contestants to have some sort of Hispanic heritage the others being Rosie, Junior and Mordecai. However, Rosie is the only one of the four to be half-Hispanic while the rest would only be a quarter.




**Nora:**

  * > Nora has very pale blonde hair, making her and Sara the only contestants to be naturally blonde.

  * > Nora is a vegetarian making her one of 4 contestants, the others being Sara, Cameron and Callum.

  * > Nora practices and competes in karate competitions. Making her one of four to play one specific sport, the others being Jacey, Ike and Cameron.

  * > Nora’s placement (16th) matches Bridgette’s World Tour rank but is still lower than Bridgette and Geoff’s Action rank (14th/15th).

  * > Nora is the only contestant from British Columbia. However, she is not the only one from the west coast due to Ike being from California.




**Let’s answer some questions!**

We’re going to answer 10 questions either about the cast or their parents just to give extra insight on their childhood’s and lives off the show. If I do another one of these you can send me asks on Tumblr or message me here. Comments are also acceptable.

**Q1: Which contestants have siblings not in the cast?**

**A:** The majority of them do honestly. I’ll just give a quick rundown of the sibling situation. Junior, Rosie, Addison, Mavis and Callum are all an only child. Landon and Aiden only have each other. Nora and Jacey both have one younger sibling (Nora a brother and Jacey a sister). Liam and Juliette both have one younger half sibling (Liam a sister and Juliette a brother). Cameron and Sara have a little brother and Petunia has two little brothers. Sophie has a younger brother and Zarra; in addition to the two half siblings Zarra has a step brother older than her. Ike and Ivonne have two little sisters and Malik has two half siblings (1 brother 1 sister). Finally, Mordecai has 5 little brothers. I know that seemed like a weird order but it was from least to most. Here’s a quick chart:

0: Addison, Callum, Junior, Mavis, Rosie

1: Aiden, Jacey, Juliette, Landon, Liam, Nora

2: Cameron, Petunia, Sara, Sophie

3: Ike, Ivonne, Malik, Zarra

5: Mordecai

**Q2: How old was Zarra when Gwen broke up with Duncan?**

**A:** Zarra doesn’t remember a time when Gwen and Duncan we’re together. After she broke up with him, she got back together with Trent. Zarra always remembers Trent and sees him as a father. She decided to move in primarily with Duncan when she was about 8-9. Her and Sophie are only about 3 years apart though.

**Q3** : **What has Cameron's relationship been like with his family in regards to his transition?**

**A:** Cameron’s family has been supportive of him. You’d think someone like Dawn would’ve been able to tell something was up early on so she was able to help him as soon as possible. But even though Dawn was able to kinda connect with his feelings he will more often go to Ezekiel for support. The majority of the issues he has are at school. Cameron actually would prefer to be homeschooled but instead he just dropped out for a year (which would’ve been 9th grade) and rejoined in the same class as his sister.

**Q4: What is Juliette’s relationship like with Noah? Would Emma be Juliette’s mother?**

**A:** Since she wasn’t adopted until she was 14 it is definitely a strange situation. Since she moved to Canada, she’s always seen Noah as a father and tries to spend as much time as she can just getting to known him better. She gets along perfectly well with him and is extremely appreciative of everything he’s done for her in terms of taking her in. Noah is Juliette’s only parent (I’m sorry Nemma fans). Juliette’s younger brother however is Emma’s son. 

**Q5: What is the relationship like between Duncan and Courtney?**

**A:** While the two of them didn’t get back together they do remain civil to one another. Courtney would become good friends with Gwen again so she’d have to hear about him sometimes in regards to Zarra (they probably gossip about him or somethin). It was best to just bury the hatchet and the hard feelings between them and move on with their lives. Even though Courtney is long past it, Mordecai still has negative feelings for Duncan after watching the series and the situation unfold. He’s not out to get him or anything but he just doesn’t like the guy because of what he did. As for Zarra… she doesn’t really care all that much given it was in the past.

**Q6:** **How did Dawn and Ezekiel end up together?**

**A:** Dawn wanted to help the mutated animals from camp Wawanakwa. Since she can read auras and interact with animals, she was able to help Zeke and communicate with him. It obviously wasn’t an overnight thing but once Ezekiel was able to get a clearer head he stuck around. Since Dawn doesn’t really have much care for people and Ezekiel doesn’t really know how to interact with people, they get along pretty well.

**Q7: Why did Addison lose an eye? What did he do?**

**A:** Talking about eye stuff is nasty I know and I’ll try to answer as simply as I can. Addison was badly injured while playing outside with another kid in the neighborhood. There weren't any ill intentions with either of them; it was just a tragic accident. It required him to have enucleation that day and he has had to wear a prosthetic since. He was only 6 at the time and that experience is still pretty haunting to him but he tries to make the best of the situation. He wears his prosthetic normally because they’re expensive and he often gets told to. But he likes to go without it because it’s both something that makes him unique and it is a part of his experience.

**Q8: What happened between Cody, Sierra and the total drama blogs?**

**A:** Sierra had a lot of reliance on the blogs and social media but she decided to let it go in order to help herself mentally and proceed with her life. Cody wanted to be continuously supportive of her whether she had the blogs or not. When he was able to understand her better and find common ground with her, they got along a lot better. It was good from them to be able to enjoy their relationship without social media but the casualty of it was short-lived as Junior was born before they were able to plan any sort of future together. When she did get back on social media it was mostly to have an account for herself and to post pictures/videos of Junior. Fans of the show still interact with her but she doesn’t seek them out specifically.

**Q9: What is the relationship between Katie and Sadie/Malik and Mavis like? What is their family life like?**

**A:** Katie and Sadie still remain very good friends and help each other out with the kids and home life. Their kids were essentially raised together as one big family since they spent so much time together. The main difference between their families is that where Mavis still has her father in her life but Malik does not and puts up with his step father as his only father figure. Mavis and Malik were always meant to be friends, they’re very close in age and they have been big parts in each other’s childhoods. Despite her attitude, Mavis does care about Malik but is very annoyed that he wants to be more than friends. She sees him more as a brother and has wanted to keep the friendship at that level.

**Q10: What happened to the drama brothers when they all were starting families? Where was Addison getting all these stories about them?**

**A:** The four of them all stayed very good friends and will play together from time to time. Out of all of them Justin kinda started to get left out since they were all starting families except him but he stayed supportive and understanding. From Justin’s perspective it all kinda happened at once because while Harold was technically the first one to get married and become a parent, by that point Trent was already being a father type of figure to Zarra and Cody was stressing about becoming a parent himself. Addison at the time was the only drama brother kid (since Aiden and Landon weren’t around) so he likes to pretend he remembers the stories when really, they’re told to him. He remembers them as being fun times as he was the baby and had all their attention but between his birth and Junior’s nothing fun was really happening. The story Addison told around the campfire was in regards to Trent’s wedding being the better party as Cody and Justin “went stag and got smashed” without actually knowing what happened. This wedding would’ve happened not too long before Junior was born making Addison not the only kid anymore and giving Addison less interest in other parties that happened after. Addison also mentioned that there were only two weddings that occurred but he wasn’t including the one he wasn’t invited to. So, in regard to Addison’s retelling of events… he’s biased.

**Teams as of now:**

GOPHERS: Addison/ Junior/ Ivonne/ Juliette/ Landon/ Petunia/ Rosie/ Sophie

BASS: Cameron/ Ike/ Jacey/ Malik/ Mavis/ Mordecai/ Zarra

_Let me know if you like this sort of thing between sections (every 5-6 chapters). This is kinda nice in situations where I can’t get a chapter out in decent time. Also let me know who you’re rooting for out of the 15 left? Also, who’s going home next??? Stay tuned to Total Drama Second Generation!_


	10. Up The Creek

In the very early morning, when Cameron would take his usual shower, he quietly turned off the shower head and began to get ready for the day. He was startled when he heard the washroom doors slowly creak open.

“Someone else in here?” He called out nervously as he froze in the shower stall, hearing the footsteps echo off the walls.

“Cameron, I need you to help me with something…”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : Since Cameron is the easiest to manipulate, I need to get him to help me vote out Zarra. Best way to intimidate somebody… get them alone. Luckily, Cameron likes to brag about getting up early.
> 
> END

“Mordecai you couldn’t pick any other time?” Cameron complained as he stepped out of the stall where Mordecai was standing.

Mordecai rolled his eyes, “Next time we lose, Zarra needs to go. Can I count on you for that?”

“I want to vote off Malik next…”

Mordecai sighed, “Yes I know Malik can be infuriating… and I’ll gladly help you vote him off after we vote out Zarra. I’m counting on you.” Mordecai patted his teammate on the back and left him alone again in the washroom.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : Maybe I’ve never seen the show before but I’m not an idiot. I know Mordecai thinks he can get me to join his little team but I’m just going to go my own way for now. I mean come on, have I ever looked like a people-person? 
> 
> **Mordecai** : That tree-hugger is the best chance I have at finally getting rid of Zarra. Her and Jacey are the only two left with single advantages and I’ll make sure they don’t get to use them. If Cam wants to be stubborn… fine. I can play that game too.
> 
> END

As the rest of the campers started to rise in the late morning, they met with Bobby by the lake.

“Morning campers.” Bobby exclaimed as the groups surrounded him, “Hope you’re excited to get your paddle on. But first, we have a decision to make. Petunia... you can use your advantage now, or you can save it for hunting season, your choice.”

Petunia paused as she looked at her team for encouragement; she grinned as an idea popped in her head, “Can I save it until the end?”

“Interesting idea...,” Bobby explained, “Unfortunately, there will be no advantages in the finale.”

Petunia sighed in disappointment, “I guess I’ll use it now.” The host handed her a heavy dust covered backpack.

“You might find something useful in there along the way,” He instructed, “As for today’s challenge you’ll have to canoe over to the treacherous and possibly still mutated Boney Island.”

Malik laughed as he pointed at the haunting island in the distance, “Hey maybe we’ll run past Cameron’s house!”

Cameron raised an eyebrow as Jacey grabbed his arm, “Cameron you live over there?”

“Not that I’m aware...”

“Anyway,” Bobby continued, “pick a paddle buddy and I’ll see you on the other side of the woods for further instructions.”

As the teams started to walk towards the shore, Mordecai grabbed Ike by the shoulder, “I need you to buddy up with pasty… he's going to need some more encouragement.” Ike nodded at him nervously before Mordecai let him go.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Ike** : Maybe making friends with Cam would be good for me. I’ve only really been hanging out with Mordecai. Also, I’ve been feeling kinda… out of myself lately.
> 
> END

Out in the distance, Zarra and Mavis watched as Malik tumbled his way down the steps.

“Hey Mavis!” He shouted across the beach, “Let’s swim baby!”

Mavis put her head in her hands and Zarra put her hand on her shoulder, “That guy just loves embarrassing you, doesn’t he?”

“On one hand I’d love to smash his face in but on the other hand… he’s my brother. Or he’s like a brother.”

Zarra laughed “Well, my step-brother’s kinda the same way, that’s just what brothers do, eh?” Mavis watched as she waved Malik over to join them in their canoe. Mordecai, who was still in the grass, noticed the rest of his team getting ready when he realized the inevitable.

“Please tell me I’m not stuck with…”

“Mordecai,” Jacey called out from the beach, “Help me paddle this boat-thing.” He rolled his eyes and looked down at her regrettably before joining her on the beach.

The gopher team walked over to their four canoes when Petunia immediately jumped into one.

“Juliette, come on!” She chuckled as her friend walked over to the canoe carefully.

“Hey Landon,” Addison joked as he nudged him, “Bet you the two of us can beat Junior over there.” Junior laughed hearing the conversation but turned as he heard his name in the distance.

“Junior,” Ivonne called as she trotted towards him, “Let’s go sailing!”

“Well technically it’s a paddle boat but I catch your drift… sure.”

Sophie then turned to Rosie, “Guess that leaves us.”

“Obviously…” Rosie laughed, “Let’s just get going.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : Am I being nice to the cute preppy girl for alliance reasons? Maybe. But It’s weird that Sophie… pretty much all the girls have been super nice, especially since I boss them around a bit. Maybe they all agree that the boys on our team are a bunch of numbskulls.
> 
> **Junior** : This might actually be good. I spent all this time being scared of her when I should’ve just tried being nice to her. Maybe I’ll learn something today.
> 
> END

The two teams took off and headed towards the neighboring island. Junior and Ivonne stayed relatively silent as she looked nervously over at him.

“Hey Junior…” she asked, “Do you know who Bobby is? Like what happened to Chris?”

He laughed, “Chris? After everything that happened? He got black-listed. When they revived the show, I’m assuming Chris got to pick the new host since there was no way they’d ever let him back here...”

“Is Bobby… ya know…”

Junior speculated, “I’m not sure actually. It’s weird… I mostly know him because of his mom. I think Chris picked him as a protégé of sorts.”

“It’s funny…” Ivonne said as she looked down at the water, “Liam asked me about it but now that I remembered to ask, he’s gone.”

“Liam?”

“Yeah! We used to be really close friends!” Ivonne confirmed, “At least when he was around that is.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : Sometimes I forget how many of us know each other. I mean… It makes sense that Ivonne was friends with him. I’ve only really heard of the guy in passing and sometimes in the fan groups.
> 
> **Cameron** : I’ve been getting some vibes from Ike lately. That dude’s hiding something. As a dude who also likes to hide stuff… I can tell.
> 
> END

“Hey Ike…” Cameron asked in an attempt to break the ice, “Why do you keep kissing Mordecai’s butt? That guy’s a real loser.”

Ike blushed nervously, “What? No, Mordecai’s actually pretty nice when you get to know him, I think so at least.”

“What do you guys even talk about?” Cameron joked.

He hesitated, “Ya know… I mean we mostly talk about family stuff. He has all little brothers and I have all little sisters. He also tells me about his school… I don’t know. It’s just nice conversation.”

Cameron raised an eyebrow and looked over at Mordecai who was in another canoe not too far away. Trying to get Jacey to put her paddle back into the water. He noticed Ike looking in their direction. Then he looked over at Rosie and Sophie’s canoe and made eye contact with Sophie by accident. She grinned at him and he chuckled and waved back at the awkward interaction.

“Ike…” Cameron questioned, “What do you think of that green-eyed girl on the other team? She’s cute right?”

Ike hesitated without looking over, “Yeah… sure, you should go for it.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : I could be way off here but… I think Ike likes Mordecai. I hope that’s not the case though. Mordecai is… Mordecai, And Ike could do way better.
> 
> END

Junior pondered for a moment after listening to Ivonne, “If you were so close with Liam, why’d you help Rosie vote him out?”

She chuckled, “You’ll think I’m crazy but… I overheard some of our parents talking about staying at the loser resort during the competition. I think it’d be good for Liam.”

“Oh, because he doesn’t get along well with his mom.”

“It wasn’t always like that…” She clarified, “Up until maybe four years ago everything was great. I’m assuming it has something to do with his step-dad.”

Junior turned around and saw Landon and Addison behind them as he thought back to Landon voting out his twin. He also noticed Rosie and remembered how important it was to her to win the talent contest. And Sophie with how desperately she wants to make amends with her sister.

“I always feel bad when people tell me about their sibling issues or family issues. I can’t really relate but I think it’s interesting how it works like that. You gotta appreciate what you got ya know?”

Ivonne looked over at her older brother canoeing with Cam on the other side of the lake, “Ike and I are very close and I’m happy about that. He’s just…” She hesitated as she noticed the smoke that started to surround them as they approached the island.

“Damn…” Ike noted from his canoe over the others, “It looks like Callum’s backyard out here.” The teens laughed as they reached the shore of the haunting island. Both groups grabbed hold of their canoes and took off into the heavy woods.

As the gopher team walked with their canoes down the foggy trail, they heard a soft grumble in the bushes surrounding them.

“Uhh…” Juliette hesitated, “Hey Petunia, please tell me there’s something in your bag that could lure away creatures”

Petunia started to quickly dig through her bag until she found a pink plastic bag and gasped in excitement, “A staple of its time!”

“You found… cookies?” Landon asked.

“Better,” she exclaimed, “They’re Total Drama Yum Yum Happy Go-time Candied Fishtails!”

Junior laughed, “Well I guess poisoning them would work too.”

“I bet that bag is older than us…” Ivonne noted.

“Just throw them already!” Rosie ordered. Petunia grabbed a handful out of the bag and threw them behind her as they continued to run with the canoes.

“You’re gonna give me one later right?” Addison asked as she put the bag away. She snapped her finger at him and the group continued down the path.

As the Bass reached a fork in the road, Jacey inspected the two paths.

“Do the paths connect later?” She asked her team.

“They both reach the beach,” Mordecai pointed out, “Ike which path should we take?”

“I, uhh…” 

“The right path looks brighter,” Cameron interrupted, “So there should be less trees right.”

“Sounds good to me. Let’s go.” Mordecai ordered and the team went right on the path. The Gopher team followed behind and watched as the Bass went down the trail.

“Should we go left then?” Sophie pondered.

“Unless we want to bump heads with them.” Petunia commented before leading ahead down the left side of the path. They ran for a while until Ivonne got tripped up by a dent in the path and tumbled into the dirt.

“Ivonne!” Juliette ran over to her aid and picked her up off the path, “Please be careful!”

“I’m okay…” She sighed as she looked back at Junior who was still holding their canoe.

He noticed her and hesitated, “Uh… I can carry it the rest of the way.”

“But can you walk?” Juliette asked turning back to Ivonne.

She chuckled, “Yeah I’m alright I promise.” 

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : Ivonne is actually a nice person. And you know what… she hasn’t said anything flirtatious to me all day. And I’m not sure if I should be relieved or suspicious. 
> 
> END

The Bass made their way down the opposite path. Cameron led the way and halted the group abruptly.

“Please tell me you heard that?” Cameron whispered as the sound of a grumbling lurked over them.

“Maybe bears?” Jacey wondered.

“We’ll let them eat Malik then,” Mavis offered, “It’s the only way…”

“Hey!”

The sound of the roars was then matched with bright beady eyes looking at them through the bushes.

Mordecai shouted, “Counter argument… let’s run!”

The team took off down the path and made their way to the beach. They took time to catch their breath while the other team appeared not too long after. Both groups were startled as they noticed Bobby who was flying above them.

“Hope you guys like burning stuff.” He instructed through a megaphone over the beach, “Team that builds the best fire gets a 30 second head start back to camp. First team back wins. Get smokin’.”

The teams dispersed to gather materials to build their fires. While Ike gathered sticks alone, he was quickly joined by his canoe partner.

“Let the others collect sticks,” Cameron suggested as he bent over to grab leaves off the ground, “These dead pine needles should help make the fire blow up.”

“Wow… thanks for the tip.” Ike helped Cameron gather up the pine by lifting up his shirt to use as a makeshift bag while Cameron collected them from the ground.

Cameron chuckled, “Yeah my hockey team used to have bonfires after home games. We used to burn barrels of this stuff. Perks of living in the woods I guess...”

Ike paused, “Wait you play hockey? That’s awesome! I wonder if we’ve ever competed.”

“Maybe…”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : So… I’m realizing that Ike is actually pretty cool. I know he’s mostly just trying to get me to vote off Zarra for Mordecai but beside that he’s been super nice.
> 
> **Ike** : Cameron is… nice. I kinda feel bad that Mordecai is trying to lure him in. Maybe we can still be friends besides that.
> 
> END

Back on the beach, Landon inched towards Juliette who was throwing sticks into their campfire.

“Hey Juliette,” He flirted, “Anyone ever told you you're the prettiest one here?”

She stuttered, “Umm… th-thank you.”

“Yeah… If you didn’t have those glasses, I bet you’d look even better.”

She dropped her jaw before breaking into laughter, “You know… your brother said he liked my glasses. Maybe you could learn from him.” 

He sighed, “Well I guess Aiden wins this round then…”

In case the altercation wasn’t embarrassing enough for Landon, Addison, who witnessed the whole thing from a distance, points over to his friend.

“Ha, Landon sucks at women even more than Junior does.” He shouted over the entire beach.

“Thanks for announcing that buddy.” Landon muttered as he looked over at Juliette who was beet red.

“Hey where is Mr. Octavius Rex,” Addison pondered, “He would’ve loved this.”

Junior was a few meters into the woods gathering sticks when Ivonne spotted him in the distance. She peaked at him cautiously before running up to him.

“Hey Ivonne,” Junior greeted her awkwardly, “Thanks for picking me as your paddle buddy. I wasn’t sure if-”

“Junior I have to tell you something,” She interrupted, “I haven’t been super honest with you.” Junior gulped nervously and waited for what he thought was inevitable.

“I... I have a boyfriend.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Zarra** : I know that Mordecai is using Ike to play Cam, I’m not dumb. But I have a better plan in mind. I got Mavis already promising to vote with me. Taking Cameron from Mordecai will be too easy.
> 
> END

Zarra walked over to Cameron and Ike who started to throw the pine into the fire.

“Cameron,” Zarra motioned to him, “Do you mind if we talk in private?” Ike shrugged and Cameron walked off with his other teammate. 

“Here’s the deal,” Zarra compromised, “I wanna get rid of Mordecai and I need your help. I’ll help you vote out Malik next if you vote with me to get rid of Mordecai after.”

Cameron laughed, “I’m not ‘joining forces’ with anybody okay? If you wanna get rid of Malik… fine. But I’m not here to play sneaky.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : I just want us to be a team at this point. Am I asking for too much? I don’t know why Zarra and Mordecai have this secret rivalry but I want no part in it.
> 
> END

While Cameron turned around to head back to the fire, he noticed Ike dumping the pine needles in the fire creating a large popping explosion. 

Juliette and Petunia looked at each other and back at the fire. Rosie squatted beside them as she attempted to get a light.“You have a fire starter in that bag, right?” Juliette asked nervously.

“Umm…” Petunia buried her arm back into the bag, “All that was in there was the fishtails.”

“That’s seriously all the stupid producers wanted to give you?” Rosie complained while continuing to attempt to start the fire.

“And it looks like the Bass get their 30 second head start.” Bobby announced, “Meet you on the dock.”

“Great job Ike.” Mordecai mentioned as he ran towards his canoe, “Let’s get going!” Cameron patted him on the back and followed him to their canoe. The three red canoes quickly took off into the lake as the Gophers started to pack up themselves. Petunia looked down at her watch and stared at the second hand.

“30 seconds is up, come on let’s get going!” Petunia announced and the gophers started to run to the shore.

“Wait,” Landon said, “Aren’t we missing Junior and that one chick?”

“Where are those idiots?” Rosie complained looking back at the sand.

Junior stared blankly back at her while they stood alone in the quiet woods.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Ivonne sighed, “I want to break up with him but... I- I just can’t face him to tell him. I thought if he saw me with you on TV, he’d break up with me instead.”

“You thought being flirty on TV was going to make it better? What if he gets upset with you?”

“If I don’t have to see him again yeah,” She mumbled, “I want to switch schools anyway so I won’t have to see him anymore.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : It’s crazy cause I always felt like I knew not to take people at face value. I guess I just didn’t know enough.
> 
> END

“Ivonne…” Junior paused, “I-”

“Junior! Ivonne!” Rosie called out from the sandy shore, “Hurry up the Bass are getting ahead!” The two of them reacted by running towards her voice. Junior stopped short in front of her right before they got to the shore.

“Wait…” 

She halted as he turned to face her. Before she could say anything, he leaned down and kissed her unexpectedly. She had no time to react but became dazed after the fact. He pulled her out of the woods and they ran to their canoe.

“Hurry up and let’s go!” Rosie shouted as the final two gopher canoes took off from the shore. They paddled twice the speed in order to catch up to the rest of their team. Juliette and Petunia were straddled with the Bass team while Addison and Landon slowly pushed up against the camp shore.

“Landon, we beat them!” Addison exclaimed before noticing the entire Bass team behind him.

“Too bad the rest of your team isn’t here.” Zarra gibed as she walked past the lone Gopher canoe. Addison stayed quiet and just stared back at her.

“Where is our stupid team?” Landon complained while he looked back at the lake.

Bobby stood on the dock and inspected the scene. He waited patiently for the rest of the Gophers to pull up to shore.

“Looks like I’ll see the Gophers by the campfire tonight… you guys are sending someone home.”

“I wish we could send two people home!” Rosie scoffed while looking over at Junior and Ivonne.

Addison overheard the conversation and shouted, “Ha, Junior’s going home today.”

“Ah shit.”

Later into the night, right after dinner, Junior found Ivonne standing outside the dining hall.

“Hey Ivonne.” He greeted her.

“Listen,” She sighed, “I’m sorry I dragged you into all this… and made us lose the challenge. Honestly you can probably just vote me off-”

“No, don't apologize.” He interrupted her, “Look when we first met, I was a little intimidated by you but I was really only thinking about myself and how I felt. You don’t deserve to be with somebody that makes you feel afraid.” She stared back at him in the moonlight blank-faced. 

“One of us is probably going home tonight…” She muttered.

“Here,” Junior held up his fist, “count me as a friend okay. I can’t make all the problems go away. Actually, your plan was extremely flawed. But… you can count on me for anything.” She bumped her fist against his lightly before leaning over to hug him. It was the only sight seen by Rosie as she exited the dining hall herself. She ran to the washroom where Addison and Landon were sitting outside together.

“Don’t you bother us enough during the day?” Landon mumbled as he looked up at her.

“Neither of you will be voting for Junior okay?”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : While Junior reminds me of a smartass little brother… we’d be genuinely insane to vote him off tonight. I messed up before, letting Liam go has been bothering me for a while. I’d never be able to get over letting CJ off the hook right before he gets his advantage. The boys are dumb but they’ll agree.
> 
> END

The gophers sat quietly around the campfire with Bobby standing above them holding the marshmallow tray. Seven marshmallows were placed neatly on the shiny platter.

“You guys were lucky last time,” Bobby noted, “But… unfortunately one of you won’t be so lucky tonight. If I call your name come up and get a marshmallow.” The team sat anxiously in anticipation.

“Addison… Landon… Rosie... Petunia… Sophie… Juliette…”

One by one the team got up and claimed their security leaving Ivonne and Junior. They looked at each other nervously then back at the host holding the nearly empty tray.

Bobby continued, “Well this is interesting. Junior weren’t you in the bottom two last time?”

“Is this really the right time to be giving me shit?” Junior laughed.

“And the final marshmallow goes to…. Junior.”

Junior sighed in relief and grabbed his symbol of safety before looking back at Ivonne.

“Sorry Ivonne.”

She stood up and grinned, “It’s okay guys. It’s not really goodbye but… see you later right?” She went around and hugged the seven others on her team before heading to the dock. Junior watched from the campfire as he remembered something important.

“Wait just one second.” He requested before running off. She paused and stood awkwardly on the dock before he came back with someone who meant a lot to her.

“Aw Ivonne,” Ike called out jokingly as he walked over to her, “You got eliminated already…”

“Oh, shut up.” She said and ran over to hug her brother before saying goodbye one more time and leaving the island.

Back in the Bass cabin, Ike walked in to see Cameron sitting alone.

“Where’s Mordecai?”

Cameron looked out the window, “he’s out with Malik, Mavis and Jacey. They’re playing Cornhole or… something.”

Ike sat on his bed across from Cameron, “I guess you were right, having my sister get eliminated tonight… I already miss her.” Cameron stared out the window again before looking back at him. He remembered being on the canoe and the conversation they had earlier in the day.

“Hey Ike,” he asked quietly, “Do you… like Mordecai?”

He widened his eyes and chuckled, “Wait… we’re just friends. Why would you even think that?”

“Oh, come on Ike,” Cameron laughed, “I’m not stupid.”

Ike’s face turned red and he started to stammer, “Oh well you’ve… you’ve probably already been gossiping about me to the others, right? Then you can all have a big laugh at just some, some dumb rumor!” Cameron’s mood shifted when he looked back at his friend.

“Hey listen, I’d never do something like that. Actually… Can you keep a secret…?”


	11. Paintball Deer Hunter

In the dining hall the two teams sat at their respective tables and ate breakfast. On the gopher side, the girls all sat together at one end of the table. Their conversation cut short as the sound of Petunia’s head colliding with the table shook the benches.

“What’s happening?” Sophie asked Juliette as she patted their friend on the back.

“Her and Addison finished the bag of candy they got last challenge.” Juliette explained, “I guess it was expired…”

Petunia lifted her head slowly, “Addison and I had an eat off. That dude is a monster.”

Rosie scoffed, “I guess his lack of brain matter is made up by his bad eating habits!”

“Hey I have a stomach of steel!” Addison stood up shouted from the other side of the table.

The altercation was witnessed by the bass table where Cameron sat between Ike and Mordecai and they laughed together from the other side of the room.

“Cameron’s gonna hate this next challenge!” Ike commented jokingly.

“Why is that?”

“He’ll be fine,” Mordecai reassured, “Just don’t try to baby out and say you have a fake doctor’s note like last time.”

Ike noticed Cameron look over to his friend in concern and interjected, “Well hey who’s to say he didn’t have one.” 

Mordecai rolled his eyes, “Whatever.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Ike** : Cameron and I are tight. Uhh… I guess we’re looking out for each other.
> 
> **Cameron** : Okay so I might’ve told Ike I was trans but he’s cool with it. I’ll admit, I felt bad for harping on him but also, I felt like I could trust him. 
> 
> END

After breakfast, the contestants all met by the campfire where they found Bobby with the trunk of paintball guns and antlers. 

“So, campers,” Bobby started, “Today, as most of you know, we’re going deer hunting.”

“Aw,” Petunia chattered with her team, “I love paintball! We used to shoot the paint at blank canvases and-”

“Save the chat for later,” the host interrupted as he grabbed a paintball gun, “While this would be a great time for me to tell you who’s shooting today but… I’m leaving the choice up to our advantage.” Junior slowly stepped over by the host as he was motioned to.

“Oh great, we’re leaving our fate in the hands of a guy whose head is in a different layer of the atmosphere.” Addison complained loudly.

“Shut up Addison.”

“Okay, Big-mouth,” Bobby instructed, “Each team will have three shooters and four deer. For your advantage, you get to not only pick your team’s hunters, you’ll also be picking for the Bass.” Junior looked at the Bass, then over to his own team.

“Okay, easy,” He decided, “For my team it will be me, Landon and Petunia… and the Bass will be Cameron, Mavis and Jacey.” Rosie rolled her eyes and the Bass team looked at each other worryingly. The blurred sound of the groups complaining filled the area.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : Last thing I wanted was to be a stupid deer! I don't know how hard it is to get paint out of hair… but I don’t want to find out.
> 
> **Mordecai** : We’re screwed. Jacey better be a good shot because there’s no way Cameron ever even held a gun and I doubt Mavis could make it half way through the forest without giving up.
> 
> END

“You seriously had to make your dumb self a shooter when I have the better aim.” Rosie nagged as she ran over to her teammate, “Not that you cared.”

“Rosie I can’t reason with you but listen, I am a few hairs shy of being two meters tall. I wasn’t going to make myself a deer when I can be seen so easily.”

Addison butted in “Oh yeah, well what about me then!”

“Addison, do I really have to explain myself with this one…”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : Anything I say or do will be picked apart by my team. I’m just trying to look out for them. What is it… 4 more challenges until merge?
> 
> END

Bobby continued with instructions over the sound of the complaining teams, “The rules will be slightly different this time. Around the wooded area you will see a caution tape border. This will prevent people from traveling outside of the woods I.E the cliff or the kitchen, if you are caught outside the boundary you will be disqualified.”

Petunia sighed, “Please don’t talk about kitchens…”

“Oh, and Big-mouth, one more thing,” Bobby tossed him the small spray bottle that the gophers were much too familiar with, “that should help with the bears. Alright deer, you’ll be given a 15-minute head start. So…. let’s go.”

The eight deer headed into the forest with their respective teams. The gopher team went off as a group where the bass stayed close to the edge.

“Hey Ike,” Mordecai teased, “Which one of them do you think will get shot first?”

Zarra turned around and glared back at them, “You could actually try to win ya know?”

“Whatever. Just go babysit Malik for a few hours!”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Zarra** : Mordecai is still gunning for me because he knows he won’t be able to control me after the merge. It doesn’t intimidate me though.
> 
> **Ike** : A part of me likes hanging out with Mordecai but sometimes I wish he’d just drop his feud with Zarra. Cameron’s right about it being better when the team actually gets along.
> 
> END

The gophers walked to the middle of the area when Addison froze behind them over a patch of soft soil.

“Idea!” Addison shouted to the group, “We should dig a hole and cover it so we can hide out. That way the Bass won’t find us.”

“What so in case they do find us they can take us all out at once?” Rosie countered.

“Obviously Rosie you don’t understand the idea of a fox hole.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Addison** : I’m a very capable person okay? I have to set boundaries though… walking around a forest trying not to get shot is not something I can do. Sadly, I don’t have the field of vision for this.
> 
> END

Junior, Landon and Petunia followed the trail into the woods. The boys walked ahead and heard a thud on the path behind them. They looked back and saw their fellow shooter laying on the ground.

“Okay Petunia we’re leaving without you.” Landon deadpanned.

“Stop,” Junior sighed before squatting over to help his sick teammate, “Maybe try to balance out the fish candy with like… there’s blueberries around right?” He lifted her off the path and she took off slowly in the other direction. 

“Alright so you gotta plan?” Landon asked. Junior rubbed his chin and looked around the area. He walked over to a pile of tall grass and started to pull up the stalks.

“We can make a trap,” He explained, “We can weave a cage with the grass and tie them into the trees. That way we can check the traps for bass and shoot them.”

Landon sighed, “Dude, that’s way too much work. If you want to do that… have fun. But I’m gonna go off alone.” Landon continued on the path as Junior watched him disappear in the trees.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : I am no wilderness survivor but one thing I do know is that I don’t do well on my own in general. I don’t like being by myself. Especially not in the woods.
> 
> END

Cameron, Mavis and Jacey head out into the woods in a pact. They sat in a circle by a patch of dirt to structure a plan.

Cameron grabbed a stick and drew out the shape of the boundary, “If one of us takes the left, the right and the middle, we can cover more ground.”

Mavis shrugged, “Sounds good to me.” 

He nodded, “Jacey you on board?”

“Well,” She chuckled, “I just want to run around and shoot everyone.”

Cameron sighed, “Jacey, I think we should be strategic. I -” He fell backwards as Jacey pulled her gun on him. Mavis dropped her jaw as their teammate burst out laughing and ran away from the group. He lifted himself back up and sighed as Mavis covered her mouth and chuckled.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : Today I learned that getting shot in the chest with a paintball at two feet does kinda hurt. Also… Jacey’s kinda crazy. I fear the idea of her and Sara in a room together. 
> 
> END

Petunia sluggishly sauntered through the woods when she caught a glimpse of her teammates throwing soil over the path. She made her way over to them and sat near the hole on a stump.

“Whatcha doing?” She asked curiously while leaning over the hole.

“Addison wanted us to dig a fox hole,” Juliette responded as she stepped out of the hole.

“Hey maybe I could protect you guys. Just lurk around the area.”

“Oh perfect.” exclaimed Sophie.

Addison poked his head out of the hole and interjected, “Well, just don’t give us away.”

“Yep,” She nodded before standing up suddenly, “Oh I was going to go get some blueberries first. Be right back!”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Petunia** : I’m so lucky that I have such a strong bond with my team. We always stick out for each other! I bet the Bass don’t have anything like that.
> 
> END

“I feel like we need a better strategy than just wandering around in the woods.”

Mordecai stated as he and Ike walked around the boundary.

“We just have to avoid getting shot, right?” Ike reassured, “Shouldn’t be too hard, I have pretty good reflexes so if a paintball comes your way don’t worry about it.” Mordecai walked over to some brush and peered through the leaves. He waved over Ike quietly and they both glanced over at their shooter friend.

“Cameron,” Ike called him over quietly, “you should walk with us.” Cameron wandered over to them and they noticed the travesty that happened prior.

“You seriously got shot? By who? ” Mordecai complained as Cameron turned around.

“... Jacey.”

“Luckily, I’m prepared for this,” Mordecai reached in his pocket and pulled out a large t-shirt, “change into this one that way, it looks like you were never shot.”

Cameron glared at the bunched-up shirt in his hand, “Uhh… isn’t this cheating?”

“Who cares,” Mordecai encouraged, “besides, you’re not even a deer.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : Cheating? Whatever, I mostly bribe my siblings to do my chores and take credit for it. But I am not putting on Mordecai’s crusty ass shirt in the middle of the forest no sir!
> 
> END

“Maybe we should save it for if one of us gets shot.” Ike suggested, breaking the tension.

“Good point.” Mordecai stuffed the shirt back in his pocket and the three of them continued on the trail.

Jacey was skipping across the path as she heard the sound of a nearby scream. She followed the sound down the dirt trail where she found one of her competitors hanging from a large tree.

She looked up at him and squinted, “Ohh you’re that gopher boy?”

“Yeah yeah,” Landon whinged “Can you let me down? I dropped my gun.” Jacey dug through the leaves and picked up the gopher’s paintball gun.

“Hey I’m dual handed!”

“What? No! Jacey you can’t have-” Landon shouted before his competitor started to open fire on him.

“Bye-bye!” She ran off and disappeared in the trees as Landon sat alone in the trap dripping with paint.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Landon** : Junior’s gonna get his.
> 
> END

The gopher deer sat in a little circle in their underground bunker. They sat in an awkward silence while Rosie peeked out to look for Petunia. 

Sophie nudged her teammate to break the silence, “So Juliette, where were you originally from?

She muttered quietly, “I’m from Brazil. I lived on the west side of Rio most of my life.”

“Oh, wow I bet it was sweet! That’s where they have the parties right?” Addison chimed in.

“Actually, I never really got to see the city much…”

“Guys,” Rosie interrupted, “You realize how ridiculous it is that we’re all sitting in a hole! Petunia hasn’t even come back yet! We’re just waiting to get shot.”

Sophie stepped out of the bunker and looked down at her team, “Don’t give up you guys I’m sure she hasn’t gone off too far. Also, I bet I can find Junior and Landon as well.” 

“I’m going with you.” Rosie stated as she followed her out.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Juliette** : There’s a lot of dynamic going on with the team. Originally the girls planned on sticking together but I feel like after Ivonne left Sophie and Rosie just kinda do their own thing. I’m glad I have Petunia though. She’s been by my side from the beginning.
> 
> END

Ike, Cameron and Mordecai continued to wander through the wood as a group. Cameron stepped a little way in front of them causing his foot to connect to the vines below. Ike pulled Mordecai back as Cameron screamed from being lifted into the tree.

“What just happened!” Cameron hollered from above.

“Hang on Cam!” Ike encouraged, “I’ll get you down.” While Ike tried to climb up the tree, Mordecai ripped the vine attached to the cage causing Cameron to fall back to the ground.

“Ow,” Cameron grunted, “Hey thanks man.”

Mordecai rolled his eyes, “Yeah whatever.”

Ike slid down the tree and chimed in, “Who’s building booby traps?”

“One of those nasty gophers probably.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Ike** : It’s nice to see Mordecai and Cameron getting along. I’m riding in the middle. Like, I know Cam would never agree to join an alliance with Mordecai but I’m not telling him that. It’s peace when everybody’s in the dark.
> 
> END

Rosie and Sophie set out around the edge of the boundary in the heavy woods. In a quick reaction Sophie grabbed Rosie as a paintball came flying their way and landed by their feet. 

“Wait… that's the Gopher paint.” Rosie noticed before looking up into the trees to see her fellow teammate sitting in the branches, “Dangit Junior!”

“Sorry,” He hollered from above, “I haven’t seen anyone in a while. Have you run into the others?”

“Addie and Juliette and sitting in a hole in the middle of the woods.” Rosie groused.

“Ha,” Junior joked, “A couple of sitting ducks. I guess I could go find them.” Junior climbed down from the tree and met with Rosie at the bottom. They looked over and saw Sophie peeking into the bushes.

“Junior, what is this?” She asked as he hurried over. Hidden in the brush was a large woven cage attached to the tree above.

“Oh… watch out for booby traps.”

“How many giant traps did you make?” Rosie asked, surprised.

“Maybe 6… I’ve been bored.”

“6?!” Rosie yelled, “It’s been three hours!”

“Well I made the first one and then all of a sudden I had like 3 more done and-”

“Okay okay enough.” Rosie went on, “we lost Petunia and need you to come protect the fox hole.”

Junior agreed, “Maybe it is best if we huddle together. Have you guys seen Landon?”

Sophie looked at Rosie and hesitated, “We thought he was with you…”

“That jerk ditched me a while back… maybe we’ll run back into him.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : Everyone on my team kinda confuses me. Like I’m so used to everyone being laid back and then all of a sudden Junior just makes a bunch of traps and Petunia just eats expired food. How am I supposed to understand people if they’re not consistent?
> 
> END

“Malik,” Zarra restated as she walked with her fellow teammate, “for the last time, Mavis doesn’t like you like that.”

“I know that…” He deflected, “I’m just trying to change her mind. Or maybe let her let me pretend.” The two of them paused as they heard a voice above them.

“Hey you stupid deer. You guys wanna let me down!” Landon shouted from the trap.

Zarra smirked and nudged her teammate, “Malik, get a load of this guy.”

“Wow he’s in a basket in the sky! What a loser!” Malik laughed.

“Shut up!” 

Zarra inspected the ground and noticed vines sticking up, “Tripwires?”

“Yeah, if you see a tall kid with a bun make sure to sock him for me.” Landon gibed.

“Oh, these are gopher traps,” Zarra shrugged, “I guess our work’s cut out for us Malik. See ya Landon.” The two bass continued on the path as Landon yelled for them to come back.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Zarra** : Maybe it was cold to not help the poor kid but I can’t help but worry. Mordecai would be the type of person to try to lose on purpose. And our team could use the help.
> 
> END

Addison and Juliette sat in the bunker waiting for their teammates to return. Juliette peered out and noticed Petunia covered in blueberries and slowly heading their way. She stood over the opening and stared down at her friend.

“Petunia wait…”

“Jules?” Petunia muttered as she dropped to the ground over the covering, “Guys, I’m so sick…”

Addison fretted as he watched her slouch into the hole, “Please don’t puke in here, please don’t puke in here…” Rosie, Sophie and Junior found their way over to the fox hole and witnessed the horrific scene unfold.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Petunia** : Rule of thumb, never eat anything you know is over two decades old. All in all, I feel a lot better. I hope Addison and Juliette don’t hate me.
> 
> END

“Petunia no!” Rosie cried as they walked over to the foxhole. Sophie reached out and pulled Juliette and Addison out of the hideout.

“I see you guys are having fun” Junior commented jokingly.

“Oh, shut it!” Addison shot. The group of teens stood together as they were alarmed by the footsteps approaching them. 

“I thought I smelled some stinky badgers.” Jacey teased as she stood across from the bunker.

“How’d she get two guns…”

“Time for you all to die. Bye-bye.” She opened fire on the team drenching them in both Bass and Gopher paint. She cheered as she shot with both guns but was halted by the sound of an alarm.

“Hunters and deer, it's time to return back to base!” Bobby announced.

The Bass team made it back to camp first and watched as the Gopher team carried Petunia out of the woods.

“What happened to her?” Bobby asked as they finally arrived.

“She couldn’t handle the eat off.” Addison chuckled as Petunia curled up in the grass.

“Looks like the gophers had a hard time keeping clean.” Bobby noticed, “Man I could’ve swore there were 7 of you.”

“Wait where’s Landon?” The teams stayed quiet as the sound of the deserted camper yelling for help echoed through the woods. Zarra and Malik looked back at each other and laughed as the gopher team ran back into the woods to find him.

“Meet me by the campfire tonight gophers!” 

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : Honestly, I wish I could’ve voted them all out. Junior made those stupid traps, Addison dug the foxhole, Landon dropped his gun and Petunia gave us away. I can’t wait for the stupid merge.
> 
> END

As the night fell the Gophers went back to the campfire and met with Bobby.

“Wow Gophers you guys have been seriously sucking lately.” He joked, “This is, what, your third loss in a row? Maybe it's a curse.”

“Whatever,” Rosie sighed, “Let’s get this over with.”

“I’m sure you all know the drill by now. If I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. The first marshmallow goes to Juliette.” Juliette stood up and patted her red-haired friend on the back before collecting her security. The others sat anxiously as the names were called:

“Junior… Rosie… Addison… Sophie…”

Landon and Petunia sat alone and looked back at each other nervously. 

“Well Landon… your team kinda hung you out to dry.” The host teased.

He muttered, “Very funny…”

“And Petunia, you gave your team’s hideout away only after puking on them.”

She chuckled, “I’ll never look at fish tails the same way again.”

Bobby lifted up the tray and pointed at the teens, “And the final marshmallow goes to… Landon.”

Petunia stood up shocked, “What?”

“A ticket for the dock of shame has your name on it.” She slouched over sadly and walked over to the dock.

“Oh, bye Petunia!” Juliette cried out as she ran over to her to say goodbye. The rest of the team followed and surrounded her.

“Sorry you got defeated by some fishtails.” Junior comforted.

She chuckled, “Something to train for next time.” She said her goodbyes and made her way to the boat. The team watched as she disappeared into the distance. 

Rosie stood with the other on the dock, “Let’s make a promise to not end up here next week.” The six of them agreed and went back to the cabin for the night.

“Will the Gopher team ever score another win? Will Cameron get sucked into Mordecai’s alliance? Will Malik ever take a hint? Find out next time!”


	12. If You Can't Take the Heat...

_A/N: Howdy! Just wanted to apologize for not uploading as quickly as I normally do. I recently started up school again so I have had less time to focus on this. Just know that I’m still passionate about working on this and I will work on chapters as much as I can._

As the teams sat inside and ate breakfast, Ike and Cameron moved out into the sun and picnicked in the grass. 

“Have you talked to Mordecai yet?” Cam asked him noisily. 

“Geez,” Ike chuckled, “I feel like I shouldn’t. I don’t want to freak him out or anything.”

Cameron pondered, “I really think you’ll regret it if you don’t. You never know if you don’t try.”

“Maybe…”

As they continued to eat, they noticed their red-headed friend exiting the dining hall and heading their way, “Hey guys, what’s going on out here?” The two boys looked at each other awkwardly as Mordecai stared back at them in confusion.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : I’ve been relying on Ike a lot. He’s stayed relatively loyal and on top of that he isn’t insufferable to be around like the rest of the team. But recently he’s been noticeably slipping. I can’t help but wonder if Cameron is behind it. That dude better not be putting things in his head.
> 
> **Ike** : Ever since Ivonne left I can’t stop thinking about her. I really thought if I made it farther than her, I could prove myself just as strong but now that I’m here… I feel bad?
> 
> END

Back in the dining hall, Rosie and Sophie sat with a downhearted Juliette.

“Still sad about Petunia?” Sophie asked.

Juliette nodded, “She was telling me the other day she was excited about the cooking challenge. I wish she could’ve made it this far.”

Rosie lifted her head up, “Wait… today is the cooking challenge?”

“Yeah,” Sophie giggled as she stood up from the table, “Too bad about those fish tails. We should probably get going, Bobby wanted us to meet with him at the beach.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie:** I’ve been dreading this challenge. It’s my fault Liam got voted out and I’m sure Bobby and my team are going to make that constant reminder! Like I already don’t have enough problems… I don’t even wanna hear his name.
> 
> END

“Well this is interesting,” Bobby started as the teams stood outside with him on the beach, “For the first time in this competition, the contestant that was supposed to get an advantage today has been eliminated prematurely.”

“We can still have his advantage, though right?” Addison asked.

Mordecai butted in, “They eliminated him! His advantage should go to us!” The teams burst into argument, interrupting the annoyed host.

Bobby waved his hands to quiet them down, “Hold on. Remember teams, this was not an advantage for the Bass or Gophers, this was an advantage for Liam. Therefore, the only person that can claim the advantage is Liam himself.”

Junior sighed in relief, “Okay then no one gets the advantage. Kinda like a pass.”

“Slow down Big-Mouth, I wasn’t done talking,” Bobby continued, “I talked it over with my team and we decided that previously eliminated contestants will be receiving an advantage on their advantage day.”

Rosie froze, “I’m sorry what?”

“So, I’d like to introduce you all to the judge for today’s cook-off…” A food truck drove on to the sandy beach from a distance. As it parked next to them the sand brushed up into a musky cloud. The hatch of the truck slowly opened to reveal the lengthy teen inside that was much too familiar to the Gophers.

“Liam!” Juliette cried out as she ran towards the truck and wrapped her arms around him, “I can’t believe it’s you!” As he let his former teammate hug him, he stared through the crowd and made eye-contact with a baffled Rosie.

“Missed me?”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : Is Bobby serious?! I was worried about everyone bringing him up but I never excepted I’d have to see his dumb pretty face ever again! I’d almost wish Bobby would just bring our parents back and let them eat the food!
> 
> **Juliette** : It’s crazy having Liam back here. He used to hang out with the girls a lot on our team. I remember he and Petunia would have drawing contests in the dirt and they’d let me be the judge. Man, now that Petunia’s gone, I’ve been feeling so out of touch with the team.
> 
> END

“Each team will pick a head chef and create a three-course meal for Liam to eat,” Bobby instructed, “Team with the highest score wins the challenge for today and will get a special reward. I’m gonna go take a nap in my trailer. Good luck.”

Addison started to walk backwards towards the truck while facing his team, “I’m not letting any of you make Junior the head chef! I may not have any cooking skills, but I-” Before he could finish, he collided with Zarra and they both tumbled into the sand. Realizing he’s made a terrible mistake, he quickly pulled her back to her feet and smiled at her awkwardly.

“Zarra I’m… I’m so sorry.”

She chuckled, “It’s not gonna work Addison, you still can’t join the bass team.” He fell silent and continued to smile in her direction.

As the gophers stared back at their lovesick teammate, Junior broke the awkward silence, “I nominate Landon as head chef.”

“Finally, Landon can come out of his shell a little.” Sophie giggled.

Rosie sighed, “Fine, let’s just get this dumb challenge over with.”

As the Gophers ran into the truck to grab ingredients, Zarra brushed herself off and joined her own team, “Who should be our head chef then?”

Jacey raised her hand excitedly, “I want to try to cook!”

“Maybe if this was a competition to see who could burn the kitchen down quicker, sure.” Cameron noted sarcastically.

Malik joked, “Well Cam only eats grass and Mordecai probably eats dirt so I wouldn’t count on either of them.” 

Cameron glared back at him while Mordecai added, “Fine, I think Ike should be head chef.”

“Really?” Ike blushed.

“As long as we’re not being bossed around by Malik, fine.” Mavis rolled her eyes and the team ran into the truck to collect their ingredients.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Addison** : Wow so this is crazy. My current best friend gets to assemble a three-course meal for my ex best friend. That’s a crazy amount of tension that could happen right there. I hope there's time for them to fight over my friendship.
> 
> **Landon** : So… yesterday I ripped one of my contacts and I didn’t pack glasses. Anyway, I’m kinda glad I’m not the one having to cook today.
> 
> END

Back in the kitchen the gopher team started setting their ingredients out as Liam watched them from over the batwing door.

“What are you guys cooking?” He asked them curiously.

“Landon’s head chef so we’re probably making Chinese food,” Addison responded as he walked over to his former teammate, “I’ll make sure to make all the helpings big so you can get some food in ya.”

“Addison, don’t talk to him.” Rosie sighed as she set down a crate. Liam rolled his eyes and stepped away from the doors.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Liam** : I guess Rosie’s still pretty bitter towards me but really only she’s to blame. She let her insecurities get the best of her and took it out on me. Can’t really say that’s something I’m not used to though.
> 
> END

After Liam left, Rosie lifted up her head and started discussing with her team, “Luckily, if we’re making Chinese cuisine, I have some skill in it too.”

“Well I don’t know how to make Chinese food but back at my home church I always got to make pasta.” Junior offered, “I bet I could make some lo mein.”

“Alright fine,” Landon instructed, “Junior can make the lo mein for our main dish. Uhh… Sophie and Juliette can make jiaozi and Rosie and Addison can make dorayaki for the desert.”

Addison raised his eyebrows and looked at Rosie, “Um, I’m making what?” 

She rolled her eyes, “It’s like a pancake or bun with red bean paste inside.”

Addison laughed, “Sounds gross. I’m in”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Landon** : Well, cooking isn’t exactly my expertise but I do know a thing or two about Chinese cuisine. Actually, Aiden used to cook a lot and I’d help him out every now and again. Maybe my mom will finally see that I actually can cook too and I do know what I’m talking about sometimes. 
> 
> END

As the Bass made their way into the kitchen, Ike started discussing with the group.

“You’re all lucky that I’m head chef because I actually know the kind of food Liam likes.”

“That dude likes food?” Malik quipped, causing Mavis to elbow him forcefully.

“I was thinking we could do a classic comfort food theme,” Ike continued, “Stuffed mushrooms, chili and maybe chocolate chip cookies for dessert.”

“Mavis and I can make the appetizer” Zarra offered.

Malik then raised his hand eagerly, “Hey! I’m an expert at making cookies!”

“Great!” Ike exclaimed, “Mordecai and Cameron can make the chili then and Jacey can help with dessert. 

“Umm,” Mordecai leaned over and pulled Ike aside, “You really think it’s a good idea putting crazy and crazier together?”

“I trust my team.” 

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : Ike is extremely genuine. He’s willing to risk 100K with these unhinged strangers. I wouldn’t even trust my 12-year-old brother with 10 dollars. Man, I wish I could be that naive.
> 
> END

Juliette and Sophie stood awkwardly by the counter while Landon brought them a crate of ingredients.

“What exactly are we making?” Sophie asked as he set the crate on the counter beside them.

“Essentially it’s pork and veggies in wonton wrappers.” Landon explained, “It’s really not too hard to make.”

Sophie recalled, “Oh like pot stickers?”

“Umm, I don’t know what that is either.” Juliette chuckled.

“I can help you guys if needed,” Landon offered, “Rosie knows what she’s doing so I probably don’t have to worry about her and Addison.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Sophie** : I hope Landon meant what he said about helping us because I am not very good at cooking. There’s a reason I don’t go near the oven back home.
> 
> END

Back in the Bass kitchen, Mordecai started reading back a list of ingredients as Cameron retrieved them from the crate.

“Red beans, onions, green peppers, ground beef…”

“Wait wait,” Cameron paused, “I didn’t know chili had beef in it. I don’t know how to cook meat.”

Mordecai sighed, “What the hell even would go in a meatless chili?”

“Just beans and vegetables and some spices I guess.”

“Well, let me brown the beef. You can just chop vegetables and stuff.” Cameron gave him a thumbs up and grabbed the produce bags.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : At first, I was kinda salty about being teamed up with Mordecai and having to make chili but then I realized my only other alternative was to make cookies with Malik. All in all, Mordecai isn’t as bad as he seems.
> 
> END

“Ha look at that loser!” Addison quipped loudly as he motioned to Junior, “He’s working all by himself.”

“Shut up Addison.” His tall teammate shot from the other side of the kitchen.

Rosie rolled her eyes, “You know he’s just boiling pasta, right? It’s not a two-man job.”

As Addison started to lay out ingredients, Landon walked over and noticed Rosie with the recipe.

“I don’t think this is right…” Rosie handed Landon the recipe as he proceeded to squint at it.

“Looks fine to me.”

Addison mocked, “Aww little Landon can’t see jack without his contacts.”

“I told you not to tell anyone!” Landon snapped as Rosie put her hand up to her face.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : I go through… ups and downs with my team. Sometimes they make me happy. We’re dysfunctional but it’s okay. But then other times, like right now, Liam just shows up and Landon can’t see shit and Addison’s driving me crazy and I’m just wondering why I’m even trying.
> 
> END

As the Bass worked on their meal, Liam stepped into the kitchen to walk around. He noticed Zarra and Mavis standing together by the oven when he headed in their direction.

“You’re not gonna spoil the surprise, are you?” Mavis teased as the temporary judge stood behind them.

“Meh,” Liam shrugged, “Addison already told me everything they were making.”

“What are they making?” Zarra inquired quietly.

“I’m not gonna spoil the surprise, am I?”

“Hey Liam,” Ike greeted him as he walked over to the oven, “It’s been a while.”

“It has…” Liam paused before reaching into his pocket, “Ivonne wanted me to give you this.” Liam handed him a small ripping from a sheet of notebook paper. It looked slightly crumbled and was folded loosely in half. Ike stared down at it for a moment before hearing his friend call his name. Cameron was chopping vegetables when Ike walked over to inspect him.

“So… you really know that guy?” Cameron questioned as he motioned towards Liam who was talking with Malik and Jacey.

“Yeah,” Ike reminisced, “Though I think he hung out with Ivonne more often but we were still close. He was kinda like a little brother to me. We have good memories.”

Cameron chuckled, “I wish I could say the same thing about my actual little brother.”

“Well he’s only 10 so I’d give it some time.” Ike paused for a moment as he looked back at the paper he crumbled in his hand. He opened it and stared at it for a moment.

Cameron caught on to his silence, “Ike what’s that-”

“Hey Ike,” Malik asked, interrupting the conversation, “Can I go to the bathroom?”

“What?” Ike shot his head up and sighed, “I don’t care.”

“Are you doing okay?” Cameron asked after Malik ran off and Ike slouched over the counter.

“I’m not sure… “Ike lamented, “A part of me wants to keep fighting. I’d love to be able to win. I just… I just feel like I’m a bad brother.” He handed the small piece of paper to his friend who looked at it carefully.

_“I’m rooting for you! Make us proud! -Ivonne”_

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : Ike is my confidant. I feel like if he’s gonna have an identity crisis in the middle of a challenge I should be the one helping him out. I really think he just needs to get his mind off of Ivonne for a little bit. Something to make him feel good, I guess. 
> 
> END

Liam continued to make rounds by heading into the gopher kitchen where he noticed Addison and Rosie standing over a skillet.

“You really have to watch him while he cooks a pancake?” Liam asked jokingly.

“Shut up,” Rosie scoffed, “I just… Don't trust him to do it alone.”

Addison gloated, “She doesn’t realize that I’ve been flipping pancakes since I was like 5 years old!”

“He’s been only flipping them well for maybe 3 minutes.” Junior added sarcastically from the corner of the room. Addison glared back at his teammate while Rosie finally caved.

“Liam, can we step outside for a moment.” He shrugged and proceeded to follow her into the main room of the dining hall. She paused for a moment as he rolled up his sleeves and waited for her to continue.

“Listen, there’s a big elephant in the room that I’m the reason you got voted out. I just want you to know that it had nothing to do with what happened between us that day.”

“Right, right,” Liam deadpanned, “Well it was only really you and your own insecurities so I’m not really offended or anything.”

She deflected “I’m insecure? You didn’t even offer to go up. I only went up there because you pressured me into it.”

“I’m not really sure why you’re telling me this. Do you feel bad about voting me out or something?” She paused as she got distracted looking at his inked left wrist. Faded red roses and dark thorns went up to his forearm and wrapped all the way around his thin arm.

“What’s with the roses? Are you that obsessed with me or something?”

“Oh?” He looked down his wrist, “Pretty narcissistic to think it has anything to do with you.”

She teased, “Oh I’m sure it has some deeper meaning or something right? Meant to remind you of something from your shitty life?”

“Not that you actually care but it does remind me of my ‘shitty life’. Back at the old house there was a rose bush out front. I’d get my arm caught in a lot but I just always thought they were beautiful.” As she pondered on that for a moment, she heard her name get called from inside the kitchen. The two of them ran back to see Addison trying to nudge his frequent rival away from the stovetop.

“Rosie please control him.” Junior complained, “He's trying to steal my pasta.”

“I just want to take the credit for it.”

“Did you even finish the pancakes?” Rosie asked. Her teammate pointed to the stack of small soft treats on the table.

“I helped him flip them.” Landon added from the other side of the room.

“Buzz off Landon!”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : As annoyed as I am that he’s here, I need to stop focusing on Liam. He doesn’t deserve that attention. I have a challenge to win and my team can’t go 5 minutes without nearly imploding.
> 
> **Liam** : I don’t know why Rosie is so bothered by me. I feel like the second I showed up on the first day she’s had it out for me. As much as I would’ve liked 100 thousand dollars, I’m kinda glad I don’t have to deal with all her nagging anymore.
> 
> **Addison** : Earlier today I didn’t know how to cook but now I’m inclined to believe I have a Michelin Star on its way in the mail.
> 
> END

“Mordecai,” Cameron nudged his teammate and walked him over to their friend, “Can you please talk to him.” Mordecai looked over to Ike who was still leaning over on the counter with his hand up to his face.

“What’s going on Ike.” He asked as he helped him up from the counter.

“Umm,” Ike hesitated, “Can we go somewhere else to talk?” Mordecai looked around at his team before nodding in agreement.

“Don’t worry Ike, I’ll watch the kitchen!” Jacey exclaimed.

Mordecai rescinded, “Absolutely not. Mavis and Zarra are gonna have to babysit.” The two of them left the dining hall and quietly walked to their cabin. Mordecai sat on the dusty floor between the bunks.

“Listen,” Mordecai started before Ike could say anything, “I know you’ve been buddying up with Cameron for the past couple days. I know he wants to vote off Malik but I still need your help with the vote and-”

“I don’t care about that,” Ike interrupted before sitting on the floor and burying his face into his knees, “I honestly don’t know why I’m here at all to be fair.”

Mordecai scooted next to him and placed his hand on his knee, “Hey please don’t cry. I don’t know how to deal with that. You wanted to talk to me about something, just talk to me.” Ike stared at the tan freckled hand that gently touched his leg. As he stared into nothing, he remembered being on the canoe with Cameron and the conversation they had in the cabin that night. As he thought back to this past morning, talking to Cameron and sitting in the grass, he forgot why he was upset to begin with. In the heat of the moment, Ike grabbed Mordecai by the collar of his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Ike** : It’s strange but… I don’t really know what it is about Mordecai. I’ve never really met anyone like him in my life. I admire how he holds himself up. I bet his little brothers are really proud of him and look up to him a lot.
> 
> END

Back in the Gopher kitchen, Landon sat on the countertop next to the girls as he helped them prepare an appetizer.

“Landon,” Sophie called, “We need help folding the wontons.”

“I’ll fold one to show you.” He hopped off the counter and grabbed a piece from the tray to inspect it, “It looks a little overstuffed.” He removed some of the filling and proceeded to fold it while the girls watched carefully.

“Wow, you seem like you know what you’re doing.” Juliette complimented.

“Meh, maybe.” He reflected, “Aiden usually was the one that liked cooking. I was mostly good at just taking up kitchen space.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Sophie chuckled as she attempted to fold a wonton, “Does this look okay?”

“I think so… maybe don’t ask me how things look right now.”

Juliette stepped over to the stovetop and grabbed a skillet, “I can start cooking them if you guys fold them!” Sophie gave her a thumbs up then passed an unfolded wonton to Landon.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Landon** : I don't remember the last time someone told me I was good at anything. Actually, I’ve been told I’m pretty good at doing nothing. But either way, it felt… I don't know. It was nice, I guess.
> 
> END

As the Bass continued to assemble their meals, Zarra and Mavis were finishing up and placing their appetizer into the oven.

Mavis blushed, “Thanks for saving me from having to work with Malik or Mordecai.”

“Well duh,” Zarra chuckled, “I don’t want to work with them either.” The girls stood by the oven for a quick second until their lone-working teammates required their help.

“Zarra,” Jacey hesitated, “are the cookies supposed to be brown?”

“How brown are they?” Zarra asked with concern, “They should still be a little soft.”

“Ohh I get it.” Jacey laughed, “I’ll see if they’re soft.” She ran back to her own corner of the kitchen before Cameron inched towards them.

“Mavis…” Cameron asked dreadfully, “I need help cooking the beef. Mordecai hasn’t started it yet.”

“It’s easy, just throw it on a skillet and break it up with the spatula.” Mavis assured

“That sounds horrible.”

She rolled her eyes, “Then wait for Morde to come back; he shouldn’t be too long.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : Mordecai shouldn’t have left me alone with the chili because I’m just gonna do it Cam’s way. There’s a reason why my siblings don’t like when I’m left in change. 
> 
> **Jacey** : My little sister is usually the one that makes the cookies back home but we always like putting food dye in them and setting the oven on fire. Anyway, making cookies is easier when someone else makes them for you.
> 
> END

Liam set up a table in the dining hall and walked into the gopher kitchen. The team was huddled around a table making small last-minute adjustments to their plates.

“Wrap up,” he said, “Bobby’s on his way back right now.” Landon gave him thumbs up and Liam moved into the Bass kitchen. He noticed Zarra and Mavis finishing up their dish, Jacey pulling the cookies out of the oven and Cameron quietly stirring the chili. 

“Hey,” Liam noticed, “I felt like there were more of you earlier today.”

“Malik had to go to the toilet.” Jacey laughed, “I don’t remember what happened to the other two.”

“Oh no,” Zarra sighed, “We need Ike for the challenge.”

“I can go see where everyone went.” Cameron offered before taking off from the kitchen.

“You don’t have to come back with Mordecai though.” Mavis joked as she called out to him.

> CONFESSIONAL
> 
> **Mavis** : This is great. I’m wondering if Zarra and I can vote out all three of them. Honestly, I feel like a team of just me and Zarra could function better than one with Malik, Morde and Ike. Maybe Cam will just not find any of them and all four of them can go missing.
> 
> END

Back in the cabin, Mordecai leaned away from Ike falling backwards onto the floor, “Umm… I’m sorry?”

Ike laughed, “Well I think I got that out of my system.”

Mordecai looked around confused, “Got what out of your system?! Ike, please tell you just had too much coffee or something.”

Ike stuttered as he sat up and helped up his friend, “Listen, I don’t really know why but… when we first met I… I don’t know man. I like you, okay? I didn’t expect anything back but if you want to tell the others and have a laugh about it you can. I don’t really care.” Mordecai looked back at his teammate and froze.

“I-I don’t really know what to say. I’m not going to laugh at you or… tell the others. I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m just shocked I guess.”

“Well I mean-” Ike paused as he noticed his friend looked back at the screen door. The awkward silence led to him slowly turning around and noticing their rowdy teammate standing in the doorway.

“Malik…” Ike hesitated, “did you have a good uhh... bathroom break?” The teen froze in the doorway and smiled as his teammates became beet red.

“Malik if you say anything I swear- “

“Uhh uhh I wasn’t here.” Malik chuckled as he slowly backed away from the cabin. The three Bass were alarmed to hear another teammate calling for them from just outside the dining hall.

“Ike, Mordecai,” Cameron shouted across the campsite, “The judging is about to start.”

“Oh no,” Malik fretted from the bottom of the cabin steps, “I haven’t finished the cookies!” Mordecai and Ike watched Malik run towards the dining hall and they shared a laugh. Mordecai helped up his teammate and they headed back to the dining hall themselves.

> CONFESSIONAL
> 
> **Mordecai** : The weird thing about Ike is that he’s a genuinely nice person. I don’t really know why someone as kind and caring as Ike would want anything to do with the likeness of me. I know the guy has a lot of insecurities and maybe he feels more confident around me? I don’t know. I just feel really conflicted right now; I think.
> 
> END

In the dining hall, Landon and Ike set up their portion of the table while Bobby walked in. 

“Great,” Bobby exclaimed, “Time for judging.”

“Took you long enough to get over here.” Liam gibed under his breath. As the cooking challenge began the two teams brought out their appetizers. Juliette and Sophie as well as Mavis and Zarra set down their plates beside each other. Liam inspected the two plates carefully.

“What are you waiting for, just eat it.” Mavis complained.

“Well it’s about the presentation, but fine.” Liam sighed before picking one up and taking a bite.

Zarra hesitated as he swallowed the mushroom, “Well…” Instead of giving her a response he quietly wrote in a small notepad.

She turned to Bobby, “Is this how we're going to be judged?”

He shrugged, “He has it worked out on his own. I’m just here to supervise.” Sophie then slowly pushed her plate closer to the judge.

“Enjoy!” She smiled as he picked one up and took a bite. He continued to write in his notepad as he chewed to himself.

“It’s a close one…” He announced, “But I’m giving the appetizer win to the Bass.” Zarra and Mavis high-fived while Juliette looked back at Landon who was standing behind them.

“We still did a good job,” She reassured him, “Plus there’s two more dishes left.”

“Right.” He smiled as the girls went back into the kitchen. Junior, Cameron and Mordecai came out of their respective dishes.

“Wow you guys are kinda matching on the presentation,” Liam noted, “Last round was finger food and this round you both got bowls.” He grabbed a fork and plunged it into the lo mein. 

“Hopefully the noodles are fully cooked,” Junior chuckled, “I was getting harassed by Addison half the time.”

Liam reassured him after taking a bite, “They were cooked fine. Don’t overthink it.” He then proceeded to look at the Bass’ chili and stir it with his spoon before taking a bite.

“How did finishing up the chili go?” Mordecai asked his teammate aside. Cam gave him a thumbs up and they waited for a critique.

“This chili's kinda weird.” Liam noted, “Does it just not have meat in it?” Mordecai sighed and put his face in his hands.

“So, is that bad?” Cameron asked.

“Not necessarily,” Liam explained, ‘But if you’re going to make the chili meatless it needs to have more flavors and textures in it to fulfil the lack of that ingredient. Because the chili was mostly just broth, I have to give the win to the gophers.”

Junior applauded to himself and patted Landon on the shoulder before heading back into the kitchen.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : I’m definitely an idiot for thinking Cameron could make a decent chili on his own. That tree hugger probably spends more time foraging for fruit than anything else. 
> 
> **Cameron** : Here’s the deal. I don’t… normally cook. I can do anything I set my heart to, but that doesn’t mean I’ll do it well. I like watching other people cook, so I can make sure they know what I want but other than that… the oven and I are acquaintances at best.
> 
> **Junior** : I’m glad Liam liked the noodles. I guess I do tend to overthink a lot, don’t I?
> 
> END

Jacey, Malik, Addison and Rosie stepped out of the kitchen and presented their plates of treats. Immediately, Addison tried to steal the attention.

“Liam, you have to try mine first, they're a clear winner!” He persisted scooching the plate closer to his former teammate. Liam shrugged and took a bite of the fluffy treat.

“They’re cooked well,” He noticed, “But they’re not very sweet.”

“They’re not supposed to be sweet.” Rosie explained, “Have you ever even had Chinese treats before? They’re not as sweet as whatever you’re eating in Detroit.”

“Well let’s just see how the Bass do.” He marked down in his notepad as Malik pushed his plate to the middle, “Why does this cookie have a bite taken out of it?” Malik glanced over at Jacey who had crumbs on her shirt.

“I wanted to see if it was soft.”

“It feels like a rock.” Liam noted as he held up the treat, “I’m not sure how edible this is.”

“It’s kinda Ike’s fault,” Malik blurted, “If he wasn’t wasting time kissing Mordecai in the cabin then Jacey wouldn’t have been alone for so long in the kitchen.” The room fell to an awkward silence as Ike put his hand up to face and chuckled. Addison and Rosie both looked at each other while Jacey just started giggling to herself.

“Well, I guess with that,” Liam announced breaking the tension, “The winner of the desert challenge goes to the gophers.”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Ike** : I don’t even know how to react. My dad can keep his mouth shut longer than Malik.
> 
> **Addison** : So, I guess the Bass team do have some drama going on. I was liking the idiots on the Gopher team but I also kinda want to be a Bass again. I just want a piece of the drama.
> 
> END

The remaining team members of each side left the kitchen to join Bobby in the main dining hall, “And with that we have tonight’s big winner… the Gophers.” Bobby announced while the Gophers team cheered, “Bass, I’ll be seeing you at the campfire.”

“What’s the reward you promised?” Rosie asked amongst the cheers.

“Please let it be good food.” Addison cried.

“Better,” Bobby explained, “Gophers, for your reward, you will be receiving none other than Liam, who will be re-joining the team as of right now.”

“What?!”

Liam looked over confused at the host, “I never said anything about coming back.”

“Well,” he explained, “we watched some of the footage back and it seems like there’s a lot of mixed emotions going on here. Plus, you still have a contract so...”

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Liam** : Well this is awkward. I’m gonna have to gain some trust back with my team after they let Rosie backstab me and vote me out. But also, I’d like to see where this goes. Bring it on.
> 
> **Rosie** : Bobby and the producers just hate me, don’t they? I was so excited that this challenge was going to be over and then they would’ve just taken Liam back to loser-land. Now that he’s back he’s going to have it out for me. This is just… honestly, I’d rather just lose than have Liam on my team again.
> 
> **Junior** : I don’t mind that Liam’s coming back. Honestly, it’ll be nice to not have all the tall jokes directed towards me all the time.
> 
> **Addison** : Alright! Just when I was considering blackmailing Bobby into letting me switch teams, he makes it a little more interesting again. Also, having my tall friend back will make it easier to defend myself from Junior.
> 
> END

At dinner, the Bass sat on separate sides of the long table, Zarra sat with Jacey and Mavis to discuss the elimination.

“Listen I know we talked about voting out Malik next but I’m thinking we vote off Ike…”

Mavis debated, “Ike is actually tolerable though.”

“I know,” Zarra explained, “but we know Mordecai is trying to take us out and his little buddy Ike kinda screwed us today. Plus, we can count on Malik to vote for him after what happened.”

“Count on me for what?” Malik asked as he walked over to the table with a plate of food. The girls looked at each other awkwardly as he sat among them. 

On the other side of the table, Mordecai, Ike and Cameron sat and ate in uncomfortable silence.

“Sorry that happened Ike.” Cameron comforted, breaking the silence.

“Honestly,” Ike explained, “I’m not too bothered. It was embarrassing but if I stew over it, I’ll only feel worse.” He looked over to Mordecai who seemed to be bothered.

“I feel like,” Mordecai sighed, “We should vote off Malik.”

“Change of heart?” Cameron smirked.

“I just…”

Ike joked, “Wow Mordecai, you don’t have to come to my rescue or anything.” Cam and Ike laughed as Mordecai put his hand over his face.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : I’d been anticipating the opportunity to watch Zarra climb onto the loser boat. But sometimes this isn’t always about what I want.
> 
> END

At the campfire ceremony, Bobby stood in front of the 7 Bass by the glowing fire.

“It’s been a while hasn’t it Bass.” Bobby noted as he held up a tray with six fluffy marshmallows.

“When I call your name come up and claim a marshmallow… Cameron.” Cameron sighed in relief as he ran up to collect his security. He looked back at his friend as he stood behind the host.

“Mavis…. 

...

Mordecai…

...

Zarra…

...

Jacey…”

Ike and Malik sat alone in the gallery as the host stood in front of them.

“Malik, Ike. Only one of you will be staying at camp for another night. The other must walk the dock of shame and leave camp. And the final marshmallow goes to…

...

..

…

..

… Ike”

Ike ran up to grab the last marshmallow on the tray. Malik sat shocked while he looked at the team.

“I guess I deserved that didn’t I?” He chuckled as he walked up to his team. He stood sadly over by Mavis while she wrapped her arms around him.

“Take it easy, brother.”

He said his goodbyes to the others before being taken out of sight by the loser boat.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : I feel like the rain cleared in my mind and I can see the rainbow on the other side. Anyway, Malik is finally gone and I won’t have to suffer anymore.
> 
> END

“Will the Bass drama finally die down with Malik gone? What will become of Mordecai and Ike? How will the teams handle having an old player back into the mix? And is bringing back a formerly backstabbed teammate right before the trust building challenge even a good idea? Find out next time on Total Drama Island.”


	13. Who Can You Trust?

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : Since I got here, mornings have been rough. I usually wake up early to Addison singing loudly right outside the cabin and I've also slipped a couple of times since Landon doesn't ever pick his clothes up off the floor. Since Liam's come back… it's been tense. So, it's worse. Which isn't fun for me since, even though I'm not involved, I still have to listen to it.
> 
> END

As the sun rose over the swampy island, the boys in the Gopher cabin started to get ready for an upcoming challenge.

"Hey Landon," Addison asked his mopey friend, "When we make it to merge, can I move beds and share a bunk with you?"

"Landon isn't making it to merge." Liam butted in from the other side of the room.

"What, did you come from the future or something." Landon gibed, "Or did you just hit your head on a rock at the loser island?"

"No, Landon, I just don't really want you around that much. I think you cheating out your brother was kinda gross and I don't think you'll be a strong competitor on your own."

As the awkward silence fell in, Addison whispered to Junior aside, "I told you they'd fight over me."

"My brother?" Landon deflected, "Who even are you to get into my family matters. From what I've heard about you, you seem like a shitty son."

The two boys glared at each other for a brief moment before the PA systems chimed over the campgrounds, "Meet me by the fire pit in 10 minutes for the challenge briefing."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Landon** : I'm not particularly offended that Liam wants to vote me off. I just don't understand why he has to drag my brother into it. Liam didn't have to grow up with Aiden for 17 years. That dude's shadow is about twice his size and I don't want to be known for sitting under it.
> 
> **Junior** : While I wasn't a fan of what Landon did to his brother either, I'm confused why Liam of all people is going after him now. I know Ivonne told me the dude was going through it; I just need to decide if I want to get involved or not. Ya know, try to figure out what's really going on.
> 
> **Liam** : When I was at the loser island, Aiden had only good things to say about his brother. It's frustrating that Landon has such a kind sibling and that he takes him for granted. He can deflect by calling me whatever he wants; I know what I am.
> 
> END

Outside the dining hall, Ike and Mordecai were chatting in the grass when they saw their teammate skipping past them.

"What's going on Cam?" Ike called out jokingly.

"The Earth is singing on this glorious day," Cameron resounded "I'm basking in it while I can."

"What are you, Sara?" Mordecai teased, causing Ike to laugh.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : I haven't slept this good in years! Not having a certain thorn in my side here anymore has made this competition all the more enjoyable. I still have to share a room with Ike and Mordecai which is weird but I'll take it over sleeping in a room with Malik any day.
> 
> END

"So, your parents really didn't know?" Mordecai asked, continuing their conversation as their friend trotted away.

"No," Ike explained, "Guess they'll find out now though. Before it was just a few members from my hockey team. I guess it makes sense that the people you party with know all your secrets."

"I can't keep any secrets, mainly because of my brothers," Mordecai joked, "They're like little rats getting into everything."

"Well, that's just a part of being a big brother. They probably just look up to you a lot."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : Ike and I have been talking a lot and I guess I'm still confused as to why he likes me. I've never had someone confess to me like that before. I'm actually not good at this sort of thing at all. He's kinda throwing me off my game but thanks to blabber-mouth, there isn't really much I can do now. Everyone knows what happened so pretending it didn't will just end in the others picking on me or something.
> 
> **Ike** : Yeah so, a couple of years ago I made the realization that I just didn't like girls like that. I never really talked about it with anyone because I've been dealing with some other issues back home. I'm not sure if I'm relieved or mortified over what happened with Malik. I'm hopeful that the others aren't as nosy as Mordecai thinks they'll be.
> 
> END

Back at the campsite, the 13 teens huddled around Bobby who was standing in front of a large tarp.

"As most of you should know, today is all about building trust. However, the rules will be a bit different this time..." Bobby explained.

"What's with the big tarp?" Mavis asked, interrupting the host.

"Oh yeah," Bobby remembered as a group of interns unsheathed the tarp to reveal a set of bleachers, "Guess it doesn't have to be a secret now."

"You brought our parents back, didn't you?" Mordecai asked unenthusiastically.

"Turns out your parents wanna see how trustworthy you kids are. I'm assuming they've seen a lot of unflushed toilets in their time."

"So, what does this have to do with the challenge?" Rosie complained, "You're just going to make them intimidate us?"

"Oh, you'll want to be careful," Bobby cautioned, "Team that loses tonight's challenge will fall fate to our peanut gallery. The next camper that walks the dock is completely their call. The least trustworthy camper will be sent home. So… just be trustworthy and you'll be okay."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : Well, trust is a strange one. I don't really know why I'm trusted to look after my siblings all the time, but I can't be trusted enough to pick out my own deodorant at the store. I'd put myself at maybe a six out of ten.
> 
> **Rosie** : If my team loses, I'm gonna end up going home. All I can really do is show my team that I'm trustworthy. The only issue is, I don't trust them. Sophie's my exception. But come on, would you put your life in Addison's hands?
> 
> **Jacey** : I don't trust myself only when I'm at the Lego store. I've probably eaten like $60 worth of blocks. Maybe I'm a wanted criminal in North York. Well, if there are no Legos in the challenge, I should be okay.
> 
> **Addison** : This will be great because I'm my parent's most trustworthy child. Piece of cake.
> 
> END

The contestants watched awkwardly as the original campers flooded into the bleachers. As Rosie looked away, she noticed Junior waving back at the crowd.

"You're just okay with this?" She whispered over to him to which he responded with a silent shrug.

"Okay we get it," Zarra complained, "But what are we actually doing for a challenge?"

"Riiight" Bobby drawled, "For today's challenge you'll be-" The host was interrupted by the shrieks of a large siren that echoed the campground. The teens scrambled, looking to the host and covering their ears. "Stay together and run to the cabins!" He shouted as the teams followed orders and fled away like a flock of birds. The 6 Bass ran into the girl's side of their cabin while the Gophers ran into the boy's side on their cabin. The teams huddled nervously around the floor while the sound of the siren surrounded them. In a moment of unknown terror, the noise stopped.

"Everyone doing alright?" Bobby called out on the PA system.

"What's going on?" Juliette asked with concern.

"Welcome to today's challenge."

The teams in both cabins groaned in annoyance.

"You almost gave us a heart attack!" Sophie cried as the teens started to lift themselves off the floor.

"If you look around, the windows to the cabins have been boarded up." The host explained, "All you have to do is be the first team to escape your cabin to win. Oh, and Mavis, underneath one of the bunks will be an envelope that contains your advantage. We'll be watching you out here on the screens, good luck teams!"

In the bass cabin, Mordecai started to take orders, "Mavis get the envelope, Ike check the door."

"Who put you in charge?" Zarra scoffed. Mordecai glared back at her before checking the boards on the windows.

Ike broke the tension by shaking the old wooden door, "It's locked up. But it looks like there's a combination lock holding it shut."

"You mean there's really no way out?" Cameron fretted.

"Woo slumber party!" Jacey celebrated much to the annoyance of the team.

Mordecai sighed "Listen Zarra, as much as I'd love to pick fights with you, I'm probably the best chance we got."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : I love escape rooms. I've gotten pretty good at the one by my house. Though, getting trapped in a room with my team is not nearly as fun.
> 
> **Cameron** : Still happy Malik's not here but I also have a small bladder! Nothing says trust like peeing your pants in a room full of weirdos...
> 
> END

In the gopher cabin, Rosie began frantically pulling on the wooden door.

"They jammed it." Liam noted.

"Yeah, I know that," she grunted, "I just thought maybe I could break it free."

"Allow me, weakling!" Addison gloated, pushing his teammate aside before struggling to open the door.

"Maybe try the window?" Juliette suggested.

As Junior started heading toward the window, Liam made a realization, "There's a combination lock under the door."

"I knew that!" Addison deflected, "I just like pulling on doors for three minutes." Liam bent down to look at the spinlock which had 3 sliders, each ranging from 0 to 9.

"So, we need to figure out the 3 numbers for the lock."

"Oh no, it's one of those escape room things!" Sophie laughed nervously.

"What's an escape room?" Juliette asked her team.

Landon explained, "We have to find clues to figure out the combination on the lock. It's like a party game but more annoying. Aiden used to drag me along to them with his jazz club." Upon saying his brother's name, Landon could sense Liam glaring over at him.

"Well, if you actually tried to have fun with your brother maybe you'd be a better help for this challenge."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Landon** : Liam needs to drop it and just do the challenge. I don't care about him. I don't need him to defend my older brother just because he thinks I offended him. Liam's had what? A few days' worth of conversations with my brother. Aiden and are twins so I've known him since the womb; Liam's just making himself into a fool trying to mess with me.
> 
> END

Back by the bleachers, Bobby sat in the grass controlling the dual monitors and holding the PA microphone. The original campers watched him curiously as they began to comment on his hosting.

"So, dude, what's it like being the new Chris?" Trent asked to break the ice.

"Please don't call me that…"

Heather chimed in, "You like mini-Chris better?" the group chuckled as the host recoiled in annoyance.

"Alright everyone let's calm down," Bobby deflected, "Let's just sit back, watch the drama, and hope Addison or Jacey don't accidentally burn down the cabins."

"Well, what happens if they need out for an emergency?" Courtney inquired.

Bobby clarified, "I know the combination for each lock. If there's a serious emergency I can intervene."

The host grabbed the PA mic and began talking over the campgrounds, "Teams let's not make this longer than it has to be…"

In the Bass cabin, Mavis looked under her bed and grabbed the envelope Bobby had promised her. She looked at it for a moment before handing it to Mordecai.

"You're just gonna let him take the lead?" Zarra gibed.

"Well, the Total Drama Lords know it can't be me."

"Ugh," Cameron complained, interrupting the conversation, "Why does it smell like lavender and death in here?"

"Jacey likes to spray room freshener every morning." Zarra explained.

"Hey, it smells good!" Jacey deflected.

"Hush hush," Mordecai shushed while he looked at the paper inside, "Okay so we have three clues, I'm assuming there's one for each lock."

"What, are we deciphering cryptic messages?" Cameron chuckled. Mordecai held the note up and read the clues aloud to the group:

" **The green goblin still lurks in this room. Knowing, seeing, reading. Watch where you lay your pretty heads, for the creature might find you.**

**It's good to look back sometimes to remember important dates or forgotten memories. Hold them close like a soft blanket and never let them go.**

**It's all in the name. The friend that keeps you on his back at all times. After finding this clue, the letters go click, click, click and that friend is set free**."

The room fell silent for a moment before Jacey intervened, "Can you read them again?"

"Why don't we go through them one at a time?" Ike suggested.

Mordecai nodded, "The green goblin lurks in this room… Well, that's probably Zarra."

"Great." She sighed.

"What does this have to do with finding a number?" Mavis complained.

"Once we figure out the clue, we should see the number somewhere." Mordecai explained.

She rolled her eyes, "Well I'm gonna lay my pretty head on that pillow over there." She sat down on her bunk and placed the pillow over her head.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : The only person on my team I can trust is Ike. Zarra just complains Mavis doesn't do anything, Jacey's insane and you saw what Cameron did to our chili. Ike and I will have to take the lead on this one.
> 
> **Mavis** : I did not sign up to be trapped in a room with Mordecai and his bad attitude. The sooner they unlock the door the better.
> 
> END

"So, we need to find three clues?" Sophie pondered with the rest of the Gophers, "I guess we can start tearing up the place. Also, someone should write everything down."

"I have tracing paper we can write on." Liam suggested as he pulled a thin notepad out from the end table. Before he could open the book, Rosie snatched it and began flipping through the pages.

"How do you write on these?" She complained, "They look like they're made of tissue paper."

"Well, I'm sorry you didn't notice the front said tracing paper and not normal ass notebook paper."

Aside with the rest of the group Addison snickered quietly, "Rosie likes him."

"Shut up Addison!" She snapped back, "He looks like Mike Teavee after getting stretched in the taffy puller, why would I like him?!"

"Guys, let's not fight." Juliette sighed while she walked towards the others to calm them down. As she made small steps across the wooden floor, her foot touched one of Landon's dirty shirts causing her to slip.

"Oh geez," Landon ran over to her to help her up, "I'm sorry about that!"

"It's okay…" Landon picked up the shirt and was shocked to find an envelope underneath.

"A clue!" Sophie burst.

"Landon picks up his garbage so infrequently they made it a hiding place for a clue." Addison pointed out jokingly.

Landon flushed with embarrassment as he opened the envelope. Inside he found a small strip of paper with a short paragraph printed on the front and a small number on the back. He squinted at the paper for a moment before handing it to Juliette.

She read, " **It's okay to stop and take a breath. It might cost you an arm and a leg but try looking underneath the cursed one. You might find something worth counting**."

"I nominate Landon for checking under Addison." Junior chuckled, raising his hand.

"Come on," Rosie nagged, "Let's not be stupid. Now, what could the cursed one even mean?"

"Wasn't DJ cursed that one time?" Sophie remembered, "Maybe we have to find something relating to him."

"Wasn't it a dog that cursed him," Junior recalled, "Addison has a stuffed dog thing on his bed."

"He's not a 'dog thing'," Addison deflected, "It's Colonel Woofers III, and he is of higher rank than any of you!"

"Addy, just grab the dog already!" Rosie demanded, causing Addison to run up to his bunk. He shuffled around for a moment before coming back empty-handed.

"I didn't see anything worth counting." He noted.

Junior suggested, "Well, why don't Landon, Sophie, and I look for the other envelopes while you four work on deciphering the first clue."

"We can manage that." Liam responded as Junior handed him the clue.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : I'm like… really bad at riddles. Mystery and clue type of stuff never really interested me. Finding things in strange places I can do. When I was like 8, I found a DS I had been looking for forever underneath a stack of newspapers. Ya know, maybe that's not a good example as I probably was the one who hid it there and forgot about it.
> 
> END

"Okay," Ike addressed to his team, "I have an idea about the first clue. It could be talking about season three. Seeing, knowing and reading could be Sierra and 'watch your pretty head' could be Alejandro."

"I don't know who either of those people are." Cameron admitted.

"It's fine," Mordecai dismissed before looking over and noticing the jewelry box on top of one of the dressers. Inside was a small airplane that would spin if the dial was wound.

"Whose jewelry box is that?" Mordecai added, "The world tour clues could be referencing the plane."

Jacey ran over and grabbed the box, "It's mine!" As she handed the box to Mordecai, Cameron made a different connection.

"Could green be talking about my sister? She lived in this room."

"Good point!" Ike added, "Maybe resting your head is talking about her bunk. Someone should-" Before he could finish, Ike recoiled in and put his hand on his forehead. Mordecai looked over and noticed he was in pain.

"Everything alright?"

"I got really dizzy all of a sudden." He explained. Mordecai handed him the clue paper and pulled over a wooden chair.

"Just take it easy..."

"Hey," Zarra nagged, "Help your boyfriend later, we gotta win this challenge." Mordecai glared over at her for a moment before digging through Jacey's jewelry.

"Nothing." He sighed, "Cameron, check Sara's old bunk. Maybe she left something behind." Cameron climbed up the flimsy ladder and shuffled through the blankets. Upon lifting the flattened pillow, he gasped at the sight of an unsettling glyph.

"You got something?" Mordecai asked.

"This is so exciting." Jacey whispered aside. Cameron slid down the ladder and revealed to the group a tarot card left on his sister's bed.

"It's the Eight of Cups…"

"Perfect!" Mordecai exclaimed, "The first number must be eight then."

"Good job Cam!" Ike encouraged from his chair.

"No listen," Cameron cautioned, "This card signals bad news. Betrayal and injury. We should not have found this…"

"Come on Cam, you don't really believe in that magic stuff, do you?"

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : Do I believe in magic stuff… I don't know. It doesn't really matter because I believe in my sister. I also don't want to be the victim of betrayal, especially during a 'trust' challenge.
> 
> END

"Try looking under the cursed one…" Rosie read the clue again quietly. "What could it mean?"

"We could try Landon's dirty socks." Addison suggested. Rosie sighed with annoyance before looking next to her and noticing her teammate with her hand over her face.

"Jules what's wrong." She asked.

"Well, I was trying to stop and take a breath but it just smells like feet in here."

"Maybe that's the point of the clue." Liam insinuated as he continued to think it over.

On the other side of the room, Sophie was pulling items off the end table when she spotted another envelope laying under a lamp.

"I found one!" She exclaimed, running over to Rosie.

" **It wasn't until the 48th day. A slow and long fall led into a world of chaos. Over 25,000 degrees of fire rained from the sky**."

"Sounds like a fever dream." Juliette noted.

Junior recalled quickly, "Sounds like Hawaii."

"That's a good point." Rosie noted, "Maybe it's referencing the volcano."

"Hold on a minute." Liam interrupted, "I think I figured out the first clue." The group halted and looked over at him.

"An arm and a leg… I think it's talking about my arm."

"Liam's the cursed one, I knew it." Addison called out.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Juliette** : Landon and I haven't seen that much of the show so we're probably not the best for this challenge. I'm impressed at how smart Liam and Rosie are. Though, I wish Petunia was still here. I feel like she'd have a field day with these clues.
> 
> **Addison** : I'm probably the most trustworthy person on the team right now. I've been very helpful with these clues. Whether the team wants to trust me or not is up to them.
> 
> END

"Alright next clue," Mordecai repeated as he held up the paper before his team, " **It's good to look back sometimes to remember important dates or forgotten memories. Hold them close like a soft blanket and never let them go.** "

Jacey laughed as she shook her sleepy teammate, "Any ideas Mavis? You're the expert at blankets."

"I don't know," She complained, "Try Zarra's photobox. Might be a forgotten memory in there."

"Oh no." Zarra sighed.

"Just grab it so we can find the next number." Mordecai demanded before looking over to his confidant and noticed him with his hand back over his head.

"Ike…" Mordecai hesitated as he squatted down beside him, "You holding together?"

"Yeah," He reassured, "I want to help as much as I can. Sorry, I just don't know what's going on."

Zarra rejoined her group and presented to them her box of little wallet photographs.

"Important dates could be referring to a photo with a date on it." She suggested, "I'll sift through them myself."

"That's fine." Mordecai replied as he continued to squat beside Ike. Cameron wandered over to the other boys and placed his hand on Ike's forehead.

"You don't feel warm," He stated, "You could be dehydrated."

"I have cherry soda in my bag." Jacey intervened.

"Please." Mordecai accepted before standing back up and looking at the final clue, "It's all in the name… I think I've seen clues like this one."

"Is the clue one of our names?" Cameron questioned.

"Possibly." He explained, "We can decode the letters into numbers using the alphabet, I'll grab some paper." As Mordecai went to the dresser, Jacey came back and handed Ike the beverage.

"Thank you, Jacey." Ike smiled.

She bent down and chuckled quietly, "Think your boyfriend will get mad I helped you?"

"Oh, Mordecai's not my boyfriend," He clarified, "I think he appreciates your help though."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Ike** : Mordecai has been very nice to me lately. I hope he doesn't feel obligated to. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the attention.
> 
> **Cameron** : Mordecai is being nice to Ike which is nice but Ike is still my best friend in this game. If he breaks Ike's heart, I am legally allowed to break his teeth.
> 
> END

In the Gopher cabin, 5 of the teammates huddled around Liam who had made a realization about the first clue. They all waited in excitement with the exception of one bitter camper.

"Right, because Liam thinks it's all about him." Landon mocked as he continued to search for the last clue. Liam glared back at him for a moment before removing his hoodie and setting it on his bunk. He had on a simple grey t-shirt that seemed too big on his shoulders and the skin of his arms was covered in small inked etchings that intimidated the rest of the group.

"Well, if anyone knows the cost of an arm, it's Liam." Sophie chuckled.

"Maybe I have the cursed one…" Liam pulled up the sleeve on his left shoulder and revealed a memorable island icon.

"Oh yeah," Addison recalled, "The toilet tiki."

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that."

Rosie grabbed Liam's arm and jerked him forward, "So what do we just count all the tattoos underneath it?"

"No," Liam advised, "I think it's just the roses. The first part of the clue said to stop and take a breath; it could be referring to stopping and smelling the roses."

"Wow, Liam's the riddle genius!" Sophie cheered as Rosie inspected his arm.

"There's six of them, you don't have to actually count them." Liam noted.

"Alright then," Rosie announced, "one of the numbers is six."

"I noticed a small number on the back," Juliette held up the note revealing the small '2' printed on the opposite side, "I'm assuming it's the second number."

"Perfect," Junior exclaimed, "What do you guys think about the next clue?"

"Well, we were thinking it had something to do with the volcano eruption in Hawaii." Sophie clarified.

"Okay but I don't think World Tour took place in 48 days." Liam acknowledged, "Also, lava is only about a thousand degrees. Not 25,000."

"Man, this is a weird one." Juliette sighed.

"Hey guys," Landon called from the other end of the room, "I think there's a clue jammed in the board of the window." Landon ripped the envelope out from the boards and handed Rosie the slip of paper.

" **His eyes stay open but he still cannot see. Lying awake every night as the production still haunts him. Petunia didn't die for this.** "

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Rosie** : It's strange… usually the team is always bickering but this time around it actually feels like we're working together. Hopefully, we can keep this up until merge.
> 
> END

In the Bass cabin, Mordecai rejoined his friends with a sheet of paper and a blanket.

"Okay," Mordecai instructed, "So there's six of us, and the name has to refer to one of us. If we take my name M-O-R-D-E-C-A-I we can decode it as 13-15-18-04-05-03-01-09. What we have to do is figure out who the message is talking about and how to figure out which letter in their name is the right number for the lock."

"What's with the blanket?" Cameron asked, dismissing everything Mordecai had said.

He rolled his eyes, "I brought it in case Ike wanted it."

"Oh, thanks!" Ike smiled.

"Do my name next!" Jacey exclaimed, looking down at the paper.

"I'm gonna do everyone's name!" He snapped, "Jacey, yours would be 10-01-03-05-25."

"Yes, yes." She laughed, "Click click click and we're free!"

Mordecai sighed and continued to write everyone's name on the paper. He laid on the floor beside the feet of Ike's chair. As he looked up, he noticed Mavis laying back in her bed and Zarra sifting through the photos.

"Psst, Cameron." He whispered, "Check on Mavis and Zarra for me." Cameron nodded and walked over to Zarra. He looked over her shoulder and saw her staring down at a single photo, holding it loosely in her hand. The photo featured a small toddler and, to Cameron, an unfamiliar man.

"You doing okay?" He asked casually.

"I never really get to look through this box often." She explained, "It's interesting to see what's in it."

She handed him the little photo and he examined it briefly, "That's you and your dad?"

"My step-dad," She clarified, "He used to play at these open-mics often and I'd always try to go with him."

"Oh, that's nice," Cameron commented before looking over at Mavis, "Hey you awake?"

"Yes," she groaned from her bed, "You guys haven't found anything yet so I'm waiting."

Cameron shook his head and rejoined Ike and Mordecai.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Zarra** : Who even made these clues? They would've had to go through my photobox to find a specific picture? Bobby's way too lazy to come up with these clues so I'm blaming Chris and the production team.
> 
> END

"Petunia…?" Juliette inquired.

"Petunia's dead?!" Addison shouted.

"Dead as in eliminated. She's not deceased." Rosie corrected while shoving him away.

"Well, she did eat a lot of those fishtails with Addison," Junior remembered, "Plus the eye not seeing could be Addison's missing eye."

"How's my eye open if it's not even there?" Addison asked.

"It's not Addison." Landon revealed. He pointed up at the haunting symbol that lurked over the boys in the Gopher cabin.

"The Chris painting?" Rosie laughed, "Why do you guys still have that?"

"Cause Junior's a sucker." Addison teased. Liam removed the painting off the knotted wooden walls and inspected the backside of the frame.

"Usually there's a production number on items like this." He noted before revealing the small sticker tag to the group.

"003…" Juliette read, "So the answer is 3?"

"It better be." Rosie looked at the back of the clue, "So far we know the first number is 3 and the second is 6."

"We're so close!" Sophie beamed, "I bet we're doing twice as good as those Bass!"

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Sophie** : It's really nice to feel like a part of a group. Maybe we're a bit dysfunctional at times but that's what makes it fun.
> 
> END

"Okay," Zarra announced, "I finished sifting through the pictures, there were only about 20 with dates written on them. Also, I noticed a few that had blankets in the picture." She laid out the selected photos for Mordecai to inspect.

"It needs to be clear which photo the clue is referring to…" Mordecai explained. He looked through the photos and noticed a picture among the pile of a young Zarra and a boy that appeared to be her age.

"Who's this kid?" He asked her, holding up the photo.

"That's Linus," She clarified, "He's my step-brother. I swear I saw like a thousand photos of him in that box."

"Aww," Jacey teased, "Zarra loves him."

"I love him like a brother." She corrected. Mordecai looked down at the picture again, then back at the rest of the pile.

"This is the picture." He announced, "It's the only one with him in it. 'Like a soft blanket' is a reference to the Peanuts character. I think that was the one with the blanket."

Zarra nodded, "Right. Looks like the date on it is November 4th. Okay, then we have two numbers. 8, 4, we just need one more…"

"Mavis," Cameron squatted down by the bed, "You wanna try to figure out the next one?"

She sighed, "You guys have been doing well though." The room fell silent for a moment as the teens pondered the final solution. In a split moment, Mordecai turned his head around and noticed Ike throwing up his pop onto the floor. As the group stood around in shock and disgust Mordecai ran over to his friend for aid.

"Maybe you need to lie down." He advised while trying to lift him out of the chair. Mordecai helped him into an unoccupied bunk and pushed a trash can next to him.

"I'm sorry…" Ike murmured to the girls, "I still wanna help." Jacey, in an attempt to mask the horror, grabbed her lavender spray and re-fragranced the room.

Cameron complained, "Great now it smells like lavender and vomit."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Jacey** : If you learn anything, it's that any smell can be covered with room spray. I had a dead squirrel in my room for two weeks and I didn't even know it was there! I did feel bad though after my sister found it and screamed.
> 
> END

Back in the gopher cabin, the team sat around and made attempts to decipher the final clue.

"A slow and long fall…" Landon pondered, "What does that mean?"

Rosie recounted, "Well if they are talking about Hawaii it could be referencing Ezekiel. Though that doesn't explain the other numbers."

"Maybe 48 is his two placements added together." Addison suggested.

"Okay…" Liam noted, "That makes 40. Not 48."

"Well then maybe the last number is 8."

"Addison, don't be stupid." Rosie rolled her eyes.

Juliette noticed the struggle and gloom that started to fill the room. She tried to lighten the mood a bit and asked, "Who ya think is going home in case we lose?"

"Probably me," Rosie sighed, "My mom would probably convince the others to vote me off."

"Okay," Junior joked, "But have you met Addison? He walks in a room and death feels inevitable."

Addison nodded, "You make a good point."

"Are you guys not paying attention," Liam called out as he sat up in his bunk, "Landon was the one at the very beginning that backstabbed his brother, don't you think they'd remember that. It's his ass that should be worried."

Junior quickly tried to diffuse the situation as he noticed Landon getting annoyed, "Maybe we can have this discussion another time…"

"But he told us Aiden was sick." Sophie recalled.

"That was a lie." Liam explained, "I talked to Aiden at the loser island and he told me otherwise."

With his frustration at a boiling point, Landon grabbed Junior's duffel bag from off the floor and smashed it across Liam's face. Juliette pulled Landon away from the rest of the team and removed the bag from his hand.

"Get off my back, Liam!" Landon shouted from the other end of the cabin as Juliette tried to hold him back, "You have no moral high ground over my relationship with my brother if you're gonna be a distant piece of shit to everyone around you. I doubt even that father you like living with so much would trust you. All you like to do is hide behind that silly mask. Your sister would probably be better off with a brother like me because at least I'm not a coward!"

"It's okay Landon." Juliette comforted her friend while the others stood shocked in horror. Junior looked back at Liam and noticed him reaching for a luggage case stashed under the bunk. He very promptly and quietly squatted down beside his clearly angered teammate and removed the case from his hand.

> CONFESSIONAL
> 
> **Junior** : I'd never seen Landon get so loud but if I wasn't standing right there, I think Liam would've busted his head open. That dude was shaking, he was so upset. I was nervous to grab him just because I thought I'd catch on fire or something.
> 
> **Juliette** : I feel bad for Landon and Liam. They probably both have their own issues going on but Liam probably shouldn't have egged him on and Landon shouldn't have said what he did. I don't know it's just hard cause they're both my friends.
> 
> **Liam** : That "father" that Landon thinks I like living with so much, he's my biological father but nothing else. I live with him because I have to provide for my half-sister since he's incapable to do it on his own. I have no trust and respect for that man and just being here is hard because I don't know what's happening there. I don't care if Landon wants to call me a shitty son, maybe I am, but I know damn well that I'd never go behind my sister like he did. He's pathetic if he thinks I'm not a good brother because I lost everything just so I could be a brother.
> 
> END

"We need to get out of here fast!" Zarra emphasized to her group.

Mordecai nodded, "You're telling me…"

Cameron looked down at the paper Mordecai was scribbling on and began to read it, "26, 1, 18, 9, 11, 5, 3, 13. Ugh, it's way too much."

"What's the clue again?" Mavis asked as she sat up in her bunk.

" **It's all in the name. The friend that keeps you on his back at all times. After finding this clue, the numbers go click, click, click and that friend is set free**."

"A friend that keeps you on his back…" Zarra pondered, "Maybe someone has their initials on their shirt or something."

"That's not a bad idea." Mordecai concurred, "It doesn't necessarily have to be a first name either."

"I know!" Jacey exclaimed, "We spin the last dial and see which number works!"

"Bobby would probably disqualify us." Zarra countered. Mordecai tapped on his head with both hands quickly. His annoyance lengthened with the difficulty of the clue. Ike, who was laying on the bunk behind him, tapped on his back softly.

"It's okay… we can figure it out." Mordecai took a deep breath and nodded. He looked around the room one more time to find his team thinking about the final clue. He noticed Zarra, Mavis and Jacey sitting by Mavis' bunk conversing with one another. What really made him jump was when he saw Cameron, who was staring down at the wooden floor, with his eyes wide open and his hand over his face.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : So… that last clue. Keeps you on his back. I knew it was talking about my belt pouch. It has a big 'E' written on the backside since I've had it longer than my name. It just shocked me because I hadn't thought about that name in a while. Like hell, I was gonna give my team that clue.
> 
> END

Back outside the cabin, Bobby sat with the crowd and watched the drama unfold in the Gopher cabin.

"Chris is probably gonna love this." He muttered under his breath while rolling his eyes.

Courtney stepped off the bleachers and joined the host in the grass, "Bobby, at what point do you consider it an emergency?"

"If it gets serious, I can unlock the door," he explained, "no one's gotten hurt yet."

She scoffed, "Are you serious?"

"Poor Liam got hit in the face." Lindsay cried, "And what about Ike?"

Gwen chuckled, "Wow, maybe you are turning into a mini-Chris."

Bobby groaned as he grabbed his microphone, "Okay fine I'll fix it."

"Hey Gophers!" He called out on the PA, "Can you guys please stop fighting, it's upsetting the peanut gallery."

In the Gopher cabin, Sophie stepped over to Liam and put her cold fingers on the side of his cheek.

"Looks like it's starting to bruise..." She noticed, "Are you okay?" Liam shook his head quietly and put his trembling hand up to hers.

Juliette pondered "What could've been in that bag anyway?" Junior thought about the items he packed along with him. Through all the socks and shirts he stuffed in that bag he thought about the hefty but meaningful book he always carried with him, knowing it was the cause of the injury. It was at this moment that Junior came to a realization.

"Oh oh!" Junior burst, "I know how to find that last number! Read the clue again!"

Rosie repeated the clue while Junior shuffled around in his duffle bag, " **It was on the 48th day. A slow and long fall led into a world of chaos. Over 25,000 degrees of fire rained from the sky**. What did you just now realize from that?"

"It's referencing the Bible." Junior flipped quickly through the book, "We were right that the message is talking about Ezekiel but that's also the name of a book in the Bible."

"How many chapters are even in that book?" Sophie cried, "It could take forever to find the right reference."

"Well, the '48th day' is actually the chapter number. And Ezekiel 48:8 says," Junior read, " _Adjoining the territory of Judah, from the east side to the west, shall be the portion which you shall set apart, 25,000 cubits in breadth, and in length equal to one of the tribal portions, from the east side to the west, with the sanctuary in the midst of it._ "

"25,000..." Juliette echoed

"So, the last number on the lock is 8." Junior confirmed.

"I told you guys!" Addison nagged.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Junior** : Solving that last riddle was probably the biggest confidence boost I've had this whole competition. Maybe Bobby will stop calling me Big-mouth. Ah, what am I saying?
> 
> END

"...Cameron…" Mordecai hesitated while walking over to the stunned teen.

"The last number is 5." He admitted, still looking at the floor, "8 4 5."

"Woo!" Jacey celebrated.

"How do you know?" Zarra inquired.

"Please trust me."

Mordecai ran over to the lock and started to spin the dials. Meanwhile, in the gopher cabin, Rosie was spinning the dials for their own lock.

3...6...8…

8...4...5...

She felt the pressure and encouragement from her team as she quickly spun the dials. Upon locking in the final number, the combination lock clicked and promptly dismantled.

"It worked!" She exclaimed, shortly before busting the door open. Addison and Junior quickly followed her out of the cabin where they were greeted by the host and the daylight.

"My retina!" Addison cried as he exited the dimly lit cabin. At that moment Mordecai knocked through the Bass door and noticed the Gopher team standing outside.

"No!" He shouted.

"Congratulations Gophers," Bobby announced, "You guys won the challenge. Although it's hard to say if there was really any trust in that victory…" The three teammates looked back and saw Juliette with Landon slowly leaving the cabin, "Sorry Bass, looks like the peanut gallery will have a fun time picking one of you to send home."

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Cameron** : I let my team down. I wouldn't be surprised if they sent me home. If I told them that I knew the last number sooner we probably would've beaten the other team.
> 
> **Mordecai** : I will give Zarra a bit of credit. She did actually help us in the challenge. Jacey and Mavis were a bit questionable though. My main concern is if they decide to vote off Ike. I mean, it wasn't his fault he got sick.
> 
> END

As the Bass team waited around the bleachers anxiously, Rosie snuck back into the boy's cabin to see Sophie putting ice on Liam's face.

"Sophie," Rosie asked, "Can I have a moment?" Sophie winked and left her alone in the room with Liam. She bent down next to him and noticed the left side of his face was reddened from the impact.

"What happened there?"

He looked up at her, "Don't act like you weren't there."

"I mean I know what happened, but…"

He interjected, "I feel like I went blind for a moment. Landon doesn't know me."

"Okay, you idiot. You don't know him either!" He shook his head before Rosie helped him back on his feet. They stepped outside and noticed everyone surrounding the bleachers.

"Alright," Bobby announced, "The votes are in. Mordecai?"

Mordecai looked up at him nervously, "Yes?"

"You received the smallest number of votes. So, congrats I guess."

Zarra interjected, "Just tell us who's going home please!"

"Alright, alright! And the big loser of today is…

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Mavis."

Mavis chuckled, "I saw that coming."

"Oh no!" Jacey cried, "I will miss you!"

"Really?"

"Tell Malik I don't miss him!" Cameron called out to her as she started heading away.

Zarra shrugged "Well I guess we can tell Ike what happened later." At the mention of his name, Mordecai looked up and over to the medical tent.

> CONFESSION
> 
> **Mordecai** : I'd never really had anyone like Ike before. Growing up with all my brothers made me feel like I had to toughen up and I was always pushed into being great. Ike's very patient and accommodating and sweet. It's strange but at the same time, it's nice. I just want him to know that I appreciate that and that I'm trying to do the same for him. I swear that dude is gonna throw me off my game.
> 
> END

"What will become of our campers next time? Will the teams be able to hold themselves together for the next couple of challenges or will they self-implode before merging? Will Landon and Liam ever make amends? Will Ike feel better before the next challenge? Find out next time on Total Drama Island!"


End file.
